


My Shadow

by FallingThunder



Category: The Hobbit RPF
Genre: F/M, Magic, Vampires, Warlocks, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-15
Updated: 2017-07-18
Packaged: 2018-01-01 15:59:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 16
Words: 47,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1045781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FallingThunder/pseuds/FallingThunder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lurking.<br/>He was comfortable there, in the half light.<br/>But you can’t hide forever.<br/>My shadow.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

‘Ouch’ I hissed and pulled my hand away from a stack of papers I had been filing. I looked down at my hands to find the offending finger, bleeding far too much from a mere paper cut. I rolled my eyes. How typical, I knew paperwork didn’t agree with me. But we were short staffed and my father wasn’t going to let his business deteriorate when he had a daughter with nothing better to do with her time. Or so he thought, as it was I already felt like I was worked to the bone without the influx of paperwork that had arrived on my desk earlier in the week.

 I sucked on my finger crossly and slumped down into my chair, deciding to take five minutes break from pen pushing. My father wasn’t there to see it. He wasn’t even in the country. Mr Charles Hunt, co-founder of Hunt and Lawson Defence, was one of the leading powers in the development of strategical equipment ranging from night security systems to tanks and military aircraft. His innate ability inspire, produce and inform made him successful but his peaceful exterior towards humans made him perfect for the role he had built in life. None of his weapons were made to be aggressors, they were made for defence and he was determined in his mind to keep it that way. He had told me so, ever since I was old enough to understand.

 His job, not only encompassed the human love of war, but it allowed a non-human, like himself, to oversee and prevent disasters that the mortal world were incapable of seeing. Warlocks were a dying race, difficult to conceive and difficult to notice. Women, magical women, are not known as witches. The powers that we have are not up to the standard of the males. We cannot produce lightning from our fingertips or control anyone from afar, our power lies in healing and an increased perception that outstrips Warlocks by a thousand degrees. We are efficient and wilful, clever and charming. Our communication skills were second to none. But for some it was not enough.

 For me, however, it was too much. I longed to be human, to not have the cares that had been placed on my shoulders due to the nature of possible extinction. When I was sixteen I was sat down by two elder women who explained to me my duty to help produce a new generation of Warlocks. Only when a Warlock joined with a woman of magical ability can a child that shared the gift could be produced. It had terrified me; I knew my father’s loyalty to his race was far stronger than his love of me. It was only a matter of time before he found me a match. But years had passed; I was in my early twenties and had not had a single sniff of an arranged marriage.

 I looked down at my finger again. The cut had healed. I grimaced, ok, so there was one thing I didn’t mind about being of a magical persuasion. I sighed and started pulling out some papers, noting down several item numbers that had been written down incorrectly when a commotion in the reception down the hall reached my ears. The secretary, Lauren, was sounding agitated.

‘I am sorry sir, but I have no record of your appointment with Mr Hunt. I’m afraid he is not in the office today either so I cannot have him take it up with you personally. I can book you in for an appointment for three weeks’ time, but that’s all I can do.’ Lauren said, her high human voice sounding shrill. The voice that answered was quite different, quite…quite….but I had lost the ability to think. This voice was low and alluring, smooth and rough at the same time. It wasn’t human.

‘I never said I booked an appointment, but there has to be someone who can help me, Mr Hunt is often abroad. He must have someone to deal with his business while he’s away.’

I stood up suddenly and dashed to look through the door of my office to try and catch a glimpse of the owner of this voice. I peered round the doorframe and down the hallway where the reception was clearly visible. The man had his back to me, but I could see he was a tall, over six foot and well-muscled to boot. It was a hot day outside and the thin shirt on his back wasn’t hiding the physique underneath. My stomach clenched. But he still had his back to me; I had no idea what he might look like from the front, and the way that the conversation was going I would never get to find out. Before I knew what I was doing I stepped out into the hall and called

‘Lauren, I can deal with this.’ It had the effect I was after. The tall man turned around. I had to restrain my body from inadvertently embarrassing me. He had dark hair, effortlessly swept back, a large nose, that on any other man may have looked ridiculous, but was distinguished on him and piercing blue eyes were enough convince me. This man was definitely not human.

 Apart from Warlocks and their female counterparts, there were others that eluded the term ‘human’. Werewolves and other shape shifters were most common, especially in countries where wolf attacks were not unexpected. Spirits that could walk in the light of day were another common appearance; the ones that walked at night even more so. Gargoyles who would hide as still as stone for years until they took it upon themselves to move; although they were not easy to spot, unless you caught them moving.

 This man, however, was none of those. He smirked as he saw me and I managed to recover myself quickly enough to gesture to the door of my office. He walked swiftly past me into the room; I caught him glancing at my name sign as he went. I followed, shutting the door behind me.

‘Rosa Hunt? This is a family business then, I assume?’ he said, watching me sit down behind my desk. I gestured for him to take a seat and answered

‘No, I work for my father. That is as far as it goes.’ He nodded and I considered him for a moment, taking in his lack of body movement and casual elegance, attempting to put the pieces together with logic, rather than coming to the answer that my intuition was screaming at me. ‘What can I help you with?’ I asked coolly. The smirk was back and I could tell he knew what I was without having to deliberate.

‘My name is Richard Armitage. I am interested in having a security system fitting to one of my buildings. I have been trying to contact your father about this for several weeks now, but he hasn’t been answering my calls.’ He said politely. I gulped, realising that inviting him into my office alone wasn’t one of my best plans. Dad obviously didn’t like him.

‘My father doesn’t make it his business to deal with vampires.’ I said, hoping that my intuition was right. He laughed.

‘Oh, you are good. It took your father weeks to work out what I was!’ he said and my fears had been confirmed. I had never met a vampire before; my father had told me they’re too dangerous to consider acceptable social company. But it sounded like this one knew him well…

‘How do you know Mr Hunt?’ I said, trying my hardest to be formal, but the man I was facing was doing the opposite. He leant forward and rested his elbows on my desk, his eyes boring into mine.

‘Business.’ He said, smiling very funnily at me. I felt simultaneously hot and cold, he was attractive. God almighty, _he was attractive._ ‘Defence is something I am very interested in.’ he continued as I struggled to remain conscious to his words.

‘I can believe that.’ I mouthed silently, but he understood.

‘All I want is a security system all failsafe as I can get. As far as I’m aware your father is the only Warlock dabbling in them at the moment.’

‘That’s all you want? A security system?’ I asked, pulling out a folder of the many different ones in production and flipping it open, glad to have a distraction from looking directly at the vampire. I saw him nod out of the corner of my eye.

‘I need one for a large building, with laser trips and an alarm that alerts me only. No cameras.’ He said. I glanced at him warily.

‘Are you sure you don’t want cameras?’ I asked.

‘My intruders won’t be seen on cameras.’ He said simply, sitting back to watch my reaction. I bit my lip. _So that bit about vampires was true_.

‘Ok, no cameras but lots of trips.’ I said, flicking faster through the various models.  ‘I’m afraid cameras are a standard in security at the moment. We generally don’t cater for….for you.’ I blushed.

‘Mr Hunt doesn’t think much my kind does he?’ the vampire purred. I could feel his eyes taking in the blood that had rushed to my face. I felt slightly sick.

‘As far as I’m aware the amount of supernatural people that require security is vastly outweighed by the amount of humans that do. It’s not personal, it’s just sound business sense.’ I said, trying to reclaim some of the professionalism that had abandoned me.

‘So you have no problem with dealing with me?’ he asked. I gulped, his expression showed more than what I would call a normal level of curiosity.

‘So long as you pay your bills.’ I replied quietly. I had become more and more aware of his gaze the longer he was there. I could feel his eyes were mapping every inch of my exposed skin. I felt glad that I’d done the buttons on my blouse up to my throat so that the amount of visible skin was minimised. I pushed the open folder towards him.

‘I think this is best suited to your demands, Mr Armitage.’ I said as he turned the folder to read the specifications. He nodded in approval.

‘Yes, this is ideal. When can I have it fitted?’

‘You need to fill in this form.’ I said, reaching to pluck a piece of paper from a drawer and handing it to him with a pen ‘I will let you know when the system is in so we can organise an appropriate time to have it installed. We’re short staffed at the moment, so likelihood of the order coming in as quickly as usual is slim. But you should receive a call within two weeks.’

‘Two weeks is a long time.’ He said, signing the bottom of the form with a flourish and handing it back to me.

‘As I say, we’re short staffed.’ I said briskly, standing up and heading to the door, document in hand. I felt him get to his feet and follow me. I reached for the door handle, but his lay over mine and drew it away. It wasn’t as cold as I thought it would be; room temperature maybe. I frowned as he let go of me and watched his hand fall to his side.

‘Will you be there when they install it?’ he asked, eyes fixed on me again. I looked into them, transfixed at their simultaneous heat and coolness.

‘No.’

‘Of course not. Daddy wouldn’t allow that I suppose?’ he said mockingly, as though he knew the extreme level of power my father held over me.

‘Daddy would be furious if he knew about any of this.’ I admitted. He smiled, not the smirk he had shown me several times earlier, but a proper honest smile. I returned it.

‘You can trust on my discretion.’ He said, holding out his hand. I took it, expecting a firm handshake, but instead he lifted my hand, turned it over and placed his lips on the inside of my wrist, all the time his eyes gazing into mine. It was the most exciting moment in my sheltered existence.

‘I hope you are right.’ I said as he gave my hand back and I opened the door.

‘I’m always right.’ He said, the smirk was back again. I rolled my eyes.

‘I will call you with an appointment.’ I said, and with one final mesmerising stare he left. I waited just inside the door of my room until I knew he’d gone and then darted out to the next room where the paperwork orders were processed. I hurried up to the desk where a middle aged man was sitting and pushed the paper under his nose.

‘I’m sorry Don, but I’m moving this to a top priority, I want to know the moment the order is in.’


	2. Chapter 2

I left work slightly early that day and headed into the suburbs to find a grimy internet café I frequented. I sat down at one of the old computers and waited for google to load. It was almost unbearably hot in there; there was no air conditioning like there had been in my office, and the tatty desktops were kicking out a lot of heat. I took of my suit jacket and undid several buttons on my blouse so they were showing an indecent amount of flesh. But it cooled me down, so the fact that the female proprietor of the café was throwing me disgusted glances wasn’t bothering me to any great extent. With the internet fully loaded I pulled myself closer to it and typed one word into the search engine.

_Vampires_

I scrolled through the page of links and scowled. _Why the hell had come here? What was this going to achieve? Wikipedia is hardly going to be a reliable source of information._ I pushed the keyboard away and stared blankly at the screen.

‘You are a curious little creature.’ A familiar velvety voice said from behind me. I swivelled round in my chair and jumped. I knew my new acquaintance was sitting behind me, I didn’t think he would be so close that the tip of his nose was almost in my hair.

‘What are you doing here?’ I whispered, my eyes flickering round the room to make sure we were not overheard. ‘Have you been following me?’

‘Only slightly.’ He replied, looking me up and down. I considered doing up my recently undone buttons, but, as though he was reading my mind, he shook his head very minutely and I abandoned the idea.

‘Why?’ I asked.

‘I never knew your father had a daughter. I want to know how much you are like him.’ He said smoothly. My jaw clenched.

‘I’m not like him at all.’ I said, making to stand so I could leave this unwanted intrusion into my life behind me, but a slender hand gripped my arm just above the elbow and was pulling me back to my seat.

‘No. You’re not like him, you’re much more pliable. I can imagine living with him would make you so?’

‘What makes you say pliable?’ I said angrily. He had spent less than half an hour in my company, he didn’t _know_ anything.

‘Your father would not have allowed anyone to lay a finger on him, let alone tell him what to do. And I am afraid you’ve done what I’ve asked more than once in the last five minutes.’ He said as blood rushed to my face. _How dare he question me?_ He looked completely unruffled at my unfriendliness and, at noticing we were being watched by the shop owner, I relaxed my expression. The last thing we needed was a human poking her nose in, even if it might give me a chance to escape.

‘Tell me about your name.’ he continued, changing the subject. I raised an eyebrow.

‘I don’t like it.’ I said bluntly.

‘Really? Will you tell me why?’

‘ _Why_? Why are you asking about my name? What has it got to do with anything and _why are you here?_ ’ I spat through gritted teeth. He paused for a moment

‘In all my years I have never spent time with the Warlocks fairer sex. There is something about you that I cannot place. And your name, it…reminds me of something.’ He said, as calmly and as unaffectedly as before. It was both infuriating and calming. I sighed and turned my chair so I was facing him comfortably.

‘My mother named me after her maiden name. Before she married my dad she was a De’ Rosa.’ I said, leaning back in my chair. A look of comprehension spread across his face.

‘Ah, of course, the De’ Rosa’s were a very prevalent magical family. I thought they’d died out.’

‘Well, they have. I’m the last but I don’t carry the surname.’

‘Daddy again?’ he said mockingly.

‘I suppose when mum named me, yes. But I could hardly call myself Rosa De’ Rosa _now_ , could I?’ I said, thinking back to the vague memories of my mother.

‘No. That _would_ sound stupid.’ He admitted.

‘Finally something we agree on.’ I said

‘I wasn’t aware that we had _disagreed_ about anything so far.’ He said, looking smug as I opened my mouth and closed it again. He had a point, I couldn’t argue with that. However annoying it was that I had seemed to acquire stalker, we had not actually conflicted on anything.

‘I would like to ask, I hope you don’t mind, why do you come here? It seems an odd thing to do when I know that daddy’s house must have access to the internet.’ He said, leaning forward and grasping his hands together.

‘Of course, I have access to the internet at home. By he traces my search history, even if I delete it he seems to know. He hasn’t worked out I come here yet.’ I said grumpily remembering when he’d caught me searching for a university to study medicine and flown completely off the handle, pulling me out of school and home tutoring me until he’d made sure he’d squashed the notion of being a doctor out of my head.

‘And searching for vampires would only have raised more questions.’ He said matter of factly. I nodded and noticed that the shop owner appeared to be getting more and more flustered at our presence.

‘I think I should go home. I shouldn’t be seen with you, it’s bad enough that you’re my client now. Why does a vampire need a security system anyway?’ I said, moving my chair to start clearing the evidence I had been on the computer and gathering up my things. When there was no answer from behind me I turned to find myself alone. The vampire had disappeared. _Charming._


	3. Chapter 3

‘I cannot be everywhere at once.’ A voice said from behind me. I screamed and dropped the knife I was holding onto the chopping board.

 I had left the internet café in a hurry and bought some food on the way home, all the time feeling like I was being watched. But I hadn’t seen anyone, so I attributed my nervousness to spending patches of that day in the company of a vampire. Apparently I was wrong and I did have a reason to be unusually skittish. The vampire had followed me home.

 He was leaning casually on the doorframe that led from the hall into our large kitchen. He looked very comfortable in his new surroundings and I wondered how long he’d been watching me.

‘Excuse me?’ I finally managed to say. He shifted from the door and silently stepped further into the room.

‘In answer to your question, I need a security system because I cannot be everywhere at once.’ He said, quite calmly, as though I’d invited him for dinner and he’d not broken into my house. Which reminded me…

‘And how did you get past my security system?’

‘I disabled it.’ He said smugly, resting his palms on the counter that lay between us. Given the look on his face, I was glad of this obstacle, until I remembered what he was and that obstacles for me were unlikely to cause him any problems.

‘How..?’

‘If I tell you, then you will have to tell the fault in the system to your father. Who will then wonder how you know about it and it’ll all lead back to the fact that you’re engaging a vampire in his business.’ He smirked, knowing that he was right. ‘Would you still like to know?’

‘He’ll still know something isn’t right. Surely there’ll be a glitch somewhere if you’ve been tampering with it?’ I said crossly, returning to slicing carrots and watching him out of the corner of my eye.

‘Only if I’ve done something wrong; which I haven’t.’

‘Because you’re never wrong?’ I said, thinking on his earlier words. ‘I’m still confused as to why you’re following me. I’ve told you the provenance of my name and you’ve gathered I’m not like my dad, why are you here?’

‘I am _allowed_ to be here.’ he said. I turned away from the chopping board and gaped at him in disbelief.

‘Of course you are not allowed to be here! You broke in!’ I said my voice somewhat louder than I had intended it to be. This was getting weird.

‘You haven’t kicked me out.’ He said leaning over the counter some more. I looked around me briefly and picked up the whole bulb of garlic I hadn’t yet prepared and threw it at him.

‘Get out!’ I shouted, not really knowing whether I meant it, as it left my grasp. He caught it skilfully in one hand and put it back down.

‘Did you think that would repel me?’ he said, looking bored. I frowned.

‘I don’t know.’

‘Hmm you don’t know much about me at all do you?’

‘Equally, you hardly know anything about me.’ I said stiffly, feeling annoyed at how easily he had caught my garlic.

‘No, on the contrary, I know an _awful lot_ about you. You have very strong smelling blood.’ He said, looking like he was restraining himself from taking a deep breath.

‘Is that a good thing?’ I asked.

‘It’s interesting.’ He admitted, finally walking around the counter and facing me with nothing between us.

‘So…hang on, if you can smell my blood, how did you not realise I was a De’Rosa? Surely you could smell _that_.’ I said, trying to bring my thoughts back to the conversation and not to concentrate on my racing heartbeat.

‘Well, I could have. But I have never met a De’Rosa.’ He said, leaning back against the work surface.

‘And you’re unlikely to meet another…’ I said quietly.

‘I wasn’t going to say that.’ He said. I looked at him. I knew for a fact that there was no other person left of my bloodline in the world. Warlocks were stringent in keeping records to preserve the magic. Again, as though he had read my mind, he hurried ‘I mean, I was not going to point out you are the last. It would have been rude of me.’

‘I didn’t think a vampire would care if he was rude.’ I said truthfully.

‘Didn’t you? Did you think that you’d find out about us on the internet? I can tell you that most of it is rubbish.’ He said dryly.

‘Where else was I meant to look?’ I said, offended that my attempts were being scrutinised.

‘You can ask me.’

‘I…don’t know where to start…’ I said stupidly, but it was the truth. How on earth do you ask a practically unknown vampire questions about himself?

‘How about’ he began ‘We don’t have fangs; we are not as cold as ice. We don’t have red eyes, we can’t turn into bats, _I_ certainly do not want to live in a castle. And, before you ask, no we don’t sparkle.’

I was listening sensibly until the last comment, when I couldn’t contain my laughter.

‘Have you read Twilight?!’I said incredulously, unable to believe that _he_ would have been caught…well…dead reading such a thing. But he nodded reluctantly, showing me a glimpse of his charming smile.

‘I read everything published that concerns vampires.’ He said, trying to sound dismissive, but I was still giggling too much to notice.

‘Oh, I bet you do.’ I breathed ‘Are you team Edward or team Jacob?’ he frowned

‘Why don’t _you_ tell me how you managed to read a series of loathed creature books with daddy around?’ he said seriously and I stopped laughing.

‘I only read the first two and I read very quickly. I went to the library and read them there when he was away one weekend.’

‘Sneaky.’ He said, sounding slightly impressed – only slightly, I was coming to realise that he wasn’t an easy one overawe. I shrugged

‘I wanted to know what the hype was about. Turns out I just wasted a perfectly good free weekend and I didn’t get many of those at the time.’ I said, remembering how much I regretted it.

‘Free weekend? You mean when daddy’s away?’ he asked, his face was passive…or maybe a little concerned, I couldn’t tell.

‘Yes. He would take me with him when he went away up until I started working…and even then I’d go with him on business. But he never used to go away as much as he does now; I’d be at home for a long time with him.’

‘Good God.’ He murmured ‘Have you got any friends?’ he definitely looked concerned now and almost looked like he was about to close the gap between us. But he stayed put. I thought about his question in silence for a moment.

 I had had one real friend in my life. We met when I went back to school at seventeen; he was a shy, unconfident boy whose clothes looked a mess on him. I was drawn to him immediately, not because I was attracted to him in a sexual sense. He was different from all the other students. He was a werewolf. I’d spent almost a year growing to love his insecurities and learning how to talk to someone without the fear I had around my father and the other warlocks. But after one full moon he didn’t come back and I never saw him again.

‘I _had_ a friend. But not anymore.’ I said quietly. He looked like he was reading my face and didn’t need to ask any more questions.

‘You don’t have any escape from him?’ I shook my head

‘No. He’s even going to find me a husband.’ I admitted. His eyes sharpened unpleasantly at this.

‘He’s going to what?’ he said. His voice had lowered angrily. I felt surprised, I didn’t understand why anything mattered to him.

‘We’re dying out. The warlocks, I mean. He needs to find me someone to marry to continue the bloodline.’ I said. Not wanting to look at him anymore, I averted my eyes, but I could sense him lift his hands and rub his face.

‘I knew warlocks were dwindling, but I didn’t think it was serious enough to start up a breeding program.’ He said gravely. I looked up at him, shocked.

‘ _Breeding program?’_ I said, not able to find the words to elaborate.

‘What else did you think it was? It will not be as cosy as any normal marriage, you will have little to no choices in certain matters and daddy won’t care if he’s a suitable match for your personality. You’ll be told what to do, how to live your life and will bear as many children as your body will allow.’ I stared at him. I didn’t want to admit it, but it was the truthful way of putting my future situation. He was disgustingly right. ‘I apologise, I didn’t mean to offend you.’ He said unconvincingly after I remained silent.

‘He might find me someone nice…’ I said shakily.

‘And how likely is that?’ he snapped. Taking his waspish behaviour as a vampirish trait I ignored his manner and sighed

‘Not likely at all.’

‘You’re ok with that?’ I pulled a face and, content that he didn’t seem like he was going to pounce on me, turned back to chopping carrots.

‘I’ve read enough romantic novels to know what I would _like_ to happen with my life. But…I was told about this whole _“breeding program”_ thing, to use your term, when I was sixteen. I’ve digested it. I know that there isn’t going to be a handsome stranger waiting for me.’ I said, fully aware that there was an extremely handsome stranger standing mere feet behind me.

‘You are no romantic.’ He snubbed as I moved on to finely cutting cabbage.

‘I’m not idealistic.’ I said, trying to concentrate on not cutting off my fingers.

‘Don’t bore me. Everybody has dreams, don’t tell me one of yours isn’t getting swept off your feet and taken so far away from this world that you could never be found.’

‘Will you stop the mind reading thing? It’s really disconcerting.’ I said as I dumped my vegetables into a bowl and started searching for other ingredients I’d dotted around the kitchen from where I’d unpacked earlier.

‘I cannot read minds.’ He said regretfully and I chanced a glance up at him. His face had relaxed again and he’d moved so he was leaning against my fridge. ‘That’s another Twilight conspiracy I’m afraid.’

‘That’s a shame…but also a good thing. But wait...how…’ I started to question, but he interrupted

‘Body language, subtleties in you scent. You have a very expressive face.’ He listed.

‘Well nobody has ever told me that before.’ I said dismissively ‘I suppose there are worse things to say about someone’s face.’

‘There are. But in your case it only makes you more beautiful.’ He said smoothly. I dropped the tub of crème fraiche I was holding.

‘What?!’ I gasped as he crossed the room and picked up the, sealed, tub and put it on the work surface next to me. He was standing far too close to me now; I could feel his breath on my forehead. There was an unfamiliar feeling in my stomach, it wasn’t fear. He wasn’t Dracula, he was in control of himself, I could tell it. I felt secure and safe. I looked up into his cool blue eyes, that beautifully distinguished nose and lips that curled in slight amusement and the feeling intensified, coupled with a tingling in my thighs. Nope, it definitely wasn’t fear.

‘Has nobody ever told you you’re beautiful?’ he said huskily. I blinked in response. This perfect man had called _me_ beautiful. I have to be dreaming. ‘You are. Very. Close your eyes.’ I obeyed immediately but it was a while before anything happened. I suddenly felt gentle fingers under my chin, tipping my head back, and the pressure of his thumb against my lips. I almost thought that I heard a low groan from him, but I couldn’t be sure. Without any warning the hand vanished, but I didn’t open my eyes at once, even though I felt he wasn’t standing in front of me anymore. When I finally opened them I found myself alone in the kitchen. He’d vanished again.

Bloody vampires.


	4. Chapter 4

Since my encounter with the mysterious Mr Armitage in my kitchen, I was expecting to see him on a regular basis. He’d shown some description of interest in me, it was surely a certainty he would make another move.  But, after seeing him three times in the first day, I hadn’t seen any sign of him of a whole week. I didn’t want to admit it to myself, but I was disappointed.

 I was sitting at my desk at work, filling in some missing points on a risk assessment, when Don, the man that processed the order forms, knocked on my door.

‘You asked me to put through this order last week. I rushed it through and it arrived early this morning.’ He said, handing me the completed order form. ‘Is Mr Armitage a person of interest? I think I’ve heard of him before.’ I quickly thumbed through the papers as he spoke, but looked up at his question.

‘No. He’s nobody interesting at all. He just needs it quickly.’ I paused minutely and changed my posture, flicking my hair over my shoulder. ‘I would appreciate it if you didn’t mention me asking you to put this through as a priority to Mr Hunt. He doesn’t like me doing it unless it’s related to the security services.’ I said shooting him a quick smile. He blushed.

‘Of course, you didn’t need to ask.’ He flustered. I smiled again. Mission accomplished.

 He stumbled out of the room in a bit of a daze. I rolled my eyes. I honestly didn’t think I’d done much there, but Don was a middle aged bachelor whose greasy hair and dull complexion that suggested he didn’t shower nearly enough. I guessed he never had much female attention and I knew how to flaunt the little that I had. I turned to my desk and pulled out a drawer. After engaging in business with Mr Armitage I had taken precautions for when I’d need to contact him. My dad would trace my office, home and mobile phone use, so I had bought a cheap pay as you go mobile in preparation for calling him.

 He’d written his phone number on the order so, after making sure the door was completely closed, I sat down and dialled his number. I thought I would be waiting a while for him to answer, giving me enough time for my nervousness to work up, but also giving me a chance to think of what to say. I wasn’t granted this time, however.

‘Hello?’ a voice said after the second ring. I faltered

‘Oh, err, hello, Mr Armitage?’ I said, kicking myself at my lack of professionalism.

‘Miss Hunt.’ He said presumptuously. I could tell he was smirking. I took a deep breath and tried to regain my composure, I’d forgotten how enchanting his voice was. Three words and I was a mess.

‘Yes, Mr Armitage. I’ve called to say that your order has arrived and can I book a time with you to get it fitted?’ I said, awarding myself an imaginary high five for getting all the words out correctly.

‘That was quick.’ He mused

‘I had it prioritised.’ I said bluntly, not giving him any more to mock than I had to.

‘Really? Do you want to be rid of me so quickly?’ he said. There was a hint of smugness in his voice that suggested he was going to expect me to beg forgiveness.

‘Of course I do, I can’t have your paperwork lingering about when my dad gets home. It needs to be buried in our file network within six weeks or he’ll be asking questions.’ I said matter of factly, rather pleased with myself for not giving the answer he was hoping for.

‘And there was me thinking we were getting on so well.’

‘I threw some garlic at you.’ I reminded him, but he just chuckled.

‘You didn’t put enough effort in that throw to mean it.’

‘I suppose there’s no point in lying to you, is there?’ I said sighing.

‘None at all, particularly as I know you were lying to me earlier. Even if there was a grain of truth in it.’ He reprimanded.

‘Pardon?’

‘You want to know more. You may not want daddy to find out, but you’ve been hoping I’ll reappear in your house for the past week.’

‘Don’t be so…’

‘You’ve already said there’s no point lying to me Miss Hunt; enough with the dramatics…if it makes you feel better I’ve really had to restrain myself from calling on you.’ My stomach jumped. His voice sounded different to how it had before. Different to how I’d ever heard him. He sounded defeated, resigned to what he’d admitted to me, as though he had been trying to hide it from himself.

‘Why haven’t you come back? I have more questions; there are so many things you haven’t told me yet. We barely scratched the surface…’ I started, relieving myself some of the weight that had been burdening my mind.

‘I know, I have questions too. But I wanted you to ask me rather than just keep turning up. You need to make a decision about me, you’re torn.’ He said, still in this confusingly submissive tone.

‘What do you mean?’ I asked.

‘You are intrigued by me – no don’t interrupt’ he said as I opened my mouth to object. I closed it again; annoyed that his perception was greater than mine and he could tell what I was doing over the phone. ‘The feeling is mutual, I assure you. But you don’t want your mighty father to find out. Fair enough, I suppose, but there are steps we could take.’

I gulped. I wasn’t sure what to do. I _did_ want to see him again. I _did_ find his intriguing. But if my dad found out…

‘What steps?’ I said unconfidently. I felt him relax and knew he’d leaned back in his chair, by the barely audible squeaking sound I caught down the phone line.

‘How long is it until your dad is back at home?’ he said quickly.

‘Six weeks.’

‘I will come round to your house tonight. It’s going to be the safest place for us to meet at the moment; it’s the last place anyone will think to look. I will outline the procedure for when he’s back then.’

‘Ok.’ I said unsurely

‘Are you sure this is alright? You’ve gone quiet.’ He said sounding concerned.

‘Yes. I want to see you again. What time will you be round tonight? And can I get you anything to eat? Or…oh.’ I said pathetically. What on earth could I get for a vampire to eat?

‘No, I don’t need any food. I’ll be there around eight if that’s ok?’

‘That’s fine.’

‘You are not to worry about this. You are in no danger from me.’ he said earnestly.

‘I know.’ I said, hoping desperately that it was true. But if he’d planned on killing me he’d already have done so, wouldn’t he?

‘I’ll see you tonight.’ He said, starting to close the conversation, but I suddenly remembered

‘Oh, wait, Mr Armitage, when is a good time to book you in for getting this system fitted?’ I hurried, embarrassed at how off topic we’d got. So much for staying professional. He laughed.

‘Book me in for whenever is most convenient and let me know.’


	5. Chapter 5

It was seven hours between putting the phone down and the time Mr Armitage had said he would arrive at my house. Seven hours for me to work myself up to the point of insanity, where I was questioning every action I’d made that day. I’d had to redo the risk assessment as I’d made a vital mistake, I’d photocopied the back of a document instead of the front and had already half put the blank piece of paper in an envelope when I realised my mistake. I’d even put too many sugars in my coffee (I don’t know how I did that, I only ever have half a spoon). And all this extraordinary behaviour because I was distracted by the thought of having to wait until eight this evening to see a man. It made me feel sick with myself.

I was becoming painfully aware of a change in the way I was seeing him. I’d realised that I’d begun a slight attachment to him after he’d disappeared from my kitchen without a word. He was persistent and his air of self-confidence was irritating to say the least. But he was the only person in my life that had called me beautiful. And when his voice had relaxed and I heard the notes of anxiety that broke through our earlier telephone conversation, I had started spiralling into something deeper.

I’d managed to eat a light meal in the evening and curled up on the sofa in the living room to wait. I’d put some music on and drifted in and out of a daze waiting for eight. I concentrated on my breathing, trying to release any emotions that I wasn’t sure how to deal with. It was difficult, but after a while I felt like I was getting somewhere.

I yawned and then frowned.

The music had stopped. I sat up and my eyes rested on the unfamiliar inhabitant in the room. Mr Armitage was standing beside the stereo system with his arms folded and an eyebrow raised. I glanced down at my watch to find it was quarter past eight.

‘How long have you been here?’ I asked, rubbing my eyes. He looked different in the golden evening light. He didn’t have an ethereal air I expected a vampire to have. He just looked like a man. An exceptionally handsome man.

‘Since eight. I _thought_ you may have been able to stay awake, it’s not even dark outside.’

‘I was not asleep.’ I countered quickly, not entirely sure if it was the truth or not. ‘I was listening to the music and stopped concentrating.’

‘Yes, I noticed. David Gray? I would have thought someone as young as you would have liked something a little more…upbeat?’ he said, eyeing the CD collection with detached interest.

‘I like David Gray.’ I said obstinately, sitting up properly and folding my arms over my chest.

‘I see.’ He said, turning towards me and noticing my expression. ‘Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against him. I was just surprised it was your choice.’

I unfolded my arms and stood up, wandering slowly towards the rows of CDs stacked alphabetically on shelves on the wall.

‘It was a toss-up between him and Ludovico Einaudi tonight, but I decided I wanted someone singing.’ I said, tapping my fingers over the cases belonging to the pianist.

‘There’s a lot of classical here.’ he mused. I nodded.

‘I like classical, dad likes opera, which isn’t for me I have to say. But we can generally get along.’

‘I cannot imagine anyone getting along with your father.’ He said sounding a bit irritated.

‘How do you know him?’ I asked, realising that I hadn’t the faintest idea how they were acquainted. He frowned down at me, plainly weighing up whether or not he should say more. I cocked an eyebrow and he sighed.

‘You know Duncan Townsend?’ he said matter of factly. I kept my face blank, Duncan Townsend was wrapped up in classified information, this could just be a stunt to get me to spill some vital secrets. My silence was obviously just annoying his further as he let out a frustrated grunt and continued sharply

‘I know you know him; he holds a high position in the security services. I know you’ve met him, you don’t need to lie.’

‘Yes I am familiar with him.’ I said reluctantly.

‘I used to do his job, Townsend got promoted when your father got me fired.’ He said bitterly. My eyes widened and my stomach felt like it had turned to lead. Questions raced through my mind.

‘He…he got you fired?’ I asked quietly. When I received no reply I prodded again. ‘Why?’

‘I’m a vampire.’ He said simply. He didn’t look happy at all, it wasn’t the direction I had thought that the evening would take and I didn’t like it at all. I felt cross, all the unanswered questions were building up in my mind and I didn’t know what to do with them.

‘I can’t believe him. This is precisely the type of thing he’d do. Did he really not have any other reason; you weren’t laundering money or party to fraud?’ I said, releasing one of the questions.

‘No.’ he replied coolly

‘Is that why you’re here? You’ve come to punish me for being biologically tied to the man that lost you your job?’ I said, too angry to be afraid of the dangerous being in front of me.

‘Of course it isn’t. All that happened years ago. I don’t blame you at all.’ He said, looking confused, upset and pissed all at once.

‘Then why _are_ you here?’ I said, wondering if I was wearing a similar expression to him. I certainly felt the same.

‘Because I found out you were not like him. I told you that before. I thought you’d be just like him, arrogant and thoroughly politically minded. But you’re not; I can see that even if you can’t. You’re a victim, just the same as I was and I want to help you.’

I gulped, the old questions being replaced by new ones so quickly I felt my head spinning.

‘Why do you want to help me?’ I said, my voice cracking as I mentally berated myself. My dad had taught me not to show weaknesses. They were not useful in business; I didn’t need to cry to get my way. So I blinked back the tears prickling in my eyes.

‘Because you don’t have anyone.’ He said smoothly.

‘Do you? I mean, do you have someone to go to when you have a problem?’ I said, breathing deeply.

‘I do. Vampires are pack creatures, a lot of those I know work for me. Or with me. Some against me, but I’m about to get a new security system to help with that.’ He said, looking at me knowingly.

‘I’ve booked you in to have it fitted next Thursday.’ I said, answering an unasked question.

‘Good. My boys are getting restless sleeping in the offices. They’ll be pleased to hear they won’t have to for much longer.’ He said, walking away from me and sitting down in one of the armchairs.

‘Your boys? You made them sleep in the office?’ I asked, following him with my eyes but keeping my distance.

He nodded and ran his fingers through his hair, his head tipping back to rest on the back of the chair so that he was staring at the ceiling.

‘A couple of them fucked up an operation we were working on. It was their punishment.’

‘Was it an important operation?’ I asked tentatively, shifting from foot to foot. He turned his head while keeping it rested on the chair and gave me a withering look ‘Ok, not any of my business.’

He laughed at that and closed his eyes.

‘No, it wasn’t _that_ important. But it might have been so they get rubbish jobs for a while.’

‘Do you sleep in the offices with them? Do you even sleep? Oh Goodness this is so weird.’ I said as the enormity of the situation flowed over me again. I was talking to a vampire, in my own house.

‘We do sleep, and I only sleep at my office when there is a distinct need for me to do so.’ He quirked an eyebrow ‘why, is that a problem?’

‘I always heard it was a sign of a good leader to suffer a punishment alongside his men.’ I shrugged.

‘Does your father do that?’ he asked in a long suffering voice.

‘I never said I thought he was a good leader.’ I admitted, lowering myself to sit cross legged on the floor. ‘He can inspire people, given them confidence and make them trust him. He isn’t aggressive at all; he wouldn’t hurt the humans; that’s why they like him so much. He protects them. But even through all of the good he does, I’m not entirely convinced he is a good person.’ I said, concentrating on my hands and not the searching look I knew he was giving me.

‘Come away with me.’

My head snapped up. Had I heard right?

‘What?’

‘Leave here and come with me.’ he said, meaning that I had heard correctly. It also had me thinking that he was mad.

‘Why? What on Earth do you want with _me_?’ I asked, shifting to my knees and folding my arms across my chest defensively.

‘ _I_ don’t want anything with _you._ I just don’t want your father to have anything to do with you either. If I’m the person to get you away from him then so be it, but I’m not leaving you here.’

‘But why?’ I asked again. He let out an aggravated sigh and sat up, leaning his elbows on his thighs.

‘Honestly?’ he said in a much gentler voice than I was expecting. I nodded. ‘I don’t like what you were telling me about him finding you a husband. I don’t know why, but none of it sits well with me.’

‘There have been plenty of arranged marriages before.’ I reasoned. He shook his head.

‘It’s not the arranged marriage in itself.’

‘It’s the “breeding program” aspect?’ I asked, catching on to what he was saying.

‘Yes. I don’t like it at all. Please can you trust me on this Rosa?’

‘I…I know what you’re saying, it isn't exactly an attractive option for me. But I really can’t leave. I have no reason right now, he’ll flip out for no reason. Especially when he finds out I’ve run off with a vampire, because he will find out, and we will both be down the shitter. No self-respecting warlock family will allow a marriage to someone tainted by you, you have no idea what he would do to me, or maybe you do. Do you understand that?’ I said, realising how truly hopeless my situation was. This one person in the world who wanted to help me, and he couldn’t.

‘Do _you_ really think that I am going to stand here and let him carry out this depraved mission?’ he snapped, his fists balling on the arms of the chair. His mood swings really were bad, I wondered if all vampires were like that, or whether this trait was particular to him.

‘Yes.’ I replied and was met with a scowl.

‘What kind of monster do you think I am?’ he hissed. I rolled my eyes, which he didn’t like, and leant back on my hands to stare at the ceiling.

‘A vampire. I thought we had already established that.’ I said, putting on my most long suffering voice. I was getting bored of his persistence and was beginning to regret allowing him into my life. Who was I kidding when I thought he could help me? He seemed to read what I was thinking on my face, which I could tell was going to get very annoying if he kept showing up. He stood up and lifted his chair, setting it down directly in front of me so I had to look at him.

‘Don’t put on that tone with me. I see right through it. I try to help you and you push me away!’ he said as he sat down.

‘I have no other choice!’ I shouted in his face, rising to my knees so that I didn’t feel like so much of an underdog. I had a valid point, it was his decision to argue it.

‘You can come with me. That is a choice.’ He growled, his voice low and dangerous.

‘And he will kill us both! If you leave me alone you will still be alive and I will be too!’ I said, jabbing at his leg with my index finger.

‘You will be unhappy.’

‘So what? I’m only one person; if I go with you we will start a war.’ I said evenly.

‘Don’t you see Rosa, war is already brewing. Maybe it will not happen in your lifetime, but I can guarantee that the outcome of this breeding program is to create soldiers for an army, the more the better. So when I said that you would be used to carry as many children as your fragile body will bear, I was not lying. The man you will marry, your _husband_ , will probably bed you the moment you leave the alter and thereafter you will not know a day when you are not carrying a baby or trying to. He won’t even allow you to heal from birthing the previous one before he mounts you again.’ I stared at him in disbelief and fell back down on my backside.

‘Why are you saying this?’ I whispered.

‘Because it is your future if you do not let me help you.’ He was calmer now. I could sense steel behind his eyes, but the rest of him was no longer glaringly defensive.

‘How do you know? How do you know this is what will happen to me?’

‘Because I was troubled with what you had told me, so I did some research. It’s happening to other women.’ He said, resigning himself to the fact that I was not going to let this go. I wanted to know everything.

‘But how do you know it will happen to _me_?’ I said, kneeling again and pointing my finger to my chest.

‘That’s what they’re being ordered to do. I told you it is part of a wider plan. They will _all_ do it. And I don’t want that happening to you. You’re so innocent, far too young to be abused the way they plan to.’

‘I’m twenty three, I’m not that young.’ I said indignantly.

‘Oh, my dear, you are so, _so_ young. Twenty three is nothing, you should be out drinking and finding love; making some money for your future. Not marrying some warlock bastard who’s going to ruin you.’ He had turned gentle again and ran a finger down my cheek. I grabbed his hand as it reached my chin.

‘I don’t want that to happen, Richard, can I call you that?’ I asked, remembering that we hadn’t established names yet, this conversation certainly felt too intimate to be calling him “Mr”

‘Of course you can call me that.’ He replied softly ‘how can I help you sweet one? Tell me.’

‘I don’t know, I just…I just can’t go with you.’ With these words I leant my head on his knees. I wasn’t sure what had happened to me. I wanted to go with him, I couldn’t tell myself how much I wanted to, I would have no self-control left and would leave this house faster than I had ever moved in my life.

We remained silent for a while, I was thinking everything through as he stroked my hair and moved wisps of it out of my face.

‘Do you know who it’s going to be?’ I asked, not lifting my head. I felt him stiffen slightly and the hand that had been in my hair stilled briefly.

‘No. Your father is in talks with people at the moment, but I was unable to find out who he is actually talking to. He’s taking a long time to find you your stud.’ He said, a bitter twinge creeping into his voice. I flinched and buried my face as far into his legs as I could. I heard him sigh. ‘I’m sorry; I don’t mean to hurt you.’

‘You know my father well enough to know that if you take me away now, with no plan, no strategy to keep him away, you will have no chance in stopping him from taking me back.’ I said, looking up and finding he had bent over me so that his face was much closer than I was expecting.

‘You’re right. I haven’t mentioned it to them yet, but I’m going to inform the rest of my people about you. We will find a way Rosa, it might not be immediate, but we will.’ He said, his eyes unwavering and honest. I nodded, not knowing what to say. ‘I should leave. I won’t come back until I have a new plan.’ He said, standing up and helping me to my feet. Feeling dazed he let me sit in the chair he had just vacated.

I closed my eyes; when I opened them again it was the next morning and he had gone.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got a bit carried away with this and may not have fully checked everything! I have also updated the tags

He was as good as his word and did not return until he had a plan. Unluckily for me, he didn’t turn up at all, which didn’t bode well for potential plan making. I wondered whether he was the boss, or whether he had someone to report to or ask permission from. Maybe whoever was in control of the situation had banned him from making any further moves? Or maybe he had decided I wasn’t worth the hassle after all.

It had been four weeks since I had last seen him, and although I had often felt like I was being watched, nobody showed themselves to me. One strange thing had happened though. During the night about four days earlier I had woken with a pain in my throat. I’d been having a peculiar dream and felt like I was being pushed into the bed by my head and shoulder. But when I gained full consciousness there was nothing amiss but a lingering soreness on my skin.

It was a Friday. Seven o’clock. I was just shutting the front door when I heard a movement from the kitchen. My heart quickened. Was he here? Had they finally thought of something to get me out of here?

I raced into the kitchen and stopped dead.

‘Daddy?’ I squeaked, hoping that disappointment didn’t show too much in my voice, or face. He gave me polite smile that contained no warmth as he looked up from the newspaper he was reading.

‘Good evening Rosa.’

‘I thought you were going to be another two weeks before you were home. Did business go well?’ I asked nervously, hoping to God that he didn’t know about my meetings with Richard.

‘Very. I’ve left you some clothes on your bed; you are to get ready to go out. We leave at eight.’ He said curtly and returned to the paper. I understood that I had been dismissed and left without another word, glad that there was no mention of my illegal encounters.

I was used to getting ready to go out at short notice, so I showered quickly and made sure my hair was as he normally liked it before applying some make up conservatively. I left putting on the dress until last. I knew it would be a dress. It always was. But I was shocked at the style when I put it on and gazed back at my reflection in the mirror. Whenever we went out anywhere I would be dressed in clothing that covered my skin as much as possible. It would be form flattering and fashionable, but high necked and often long sleeved.

This, well, this was not like that at all. It was a deep burgundy colour, it came down to the floor even after I had slipped on the heels that accompanied it and was so low cut around the neck that I wouldn’t be able to wear a bra underneath it without it showing at the back or front, so I had to remove it. He cannot be serious about me wearing this, can he? I thought as I looked at myself I looked at the clock in my room. It was ten to eight, not much time left. I tottered downstairs. I peered round the door to the kitchen, where he was now stood fiddling with a bow tie.

‘Daddy? I think you might have picked up the wrong dress from the shop.’ I said, making him turn around and frown.

‘Let me have a look.’ He said coldly. I stepped out into the doorway properly. ‘No, that’s the right one.’ He said indifferently. ‘Take off your underwear, I can see it.’

‘What?’ I said, my eyes wide, unable to believe his words.

‘I will turn away if you want some privacy.’ He said and faced the opposite direction. I hurriedly did as he said, leaning on the work surface so that I didn’t fall off my shoes. I threw them straight into the washing machine and waited. He faced me again and gave a brief nod before taking three long strides to stand directly in front of me and snatched at my hair, pulling it lose and ruffling it so it looked like I had just left my bed. He then took my face in his weathered hands pressed his thumbs over my eyelids so that my eyes stayed closed. I let out a noise of protest but he ignored it. I felt a warmth run through him and into me, and an odd vibration that told me that he was using magic. He let go of me without warning and I staggered back.

‘What was that?’ I asked in a whisper. He disregarded me for a moment to start yanking at my dress so that the already low cut v neck was even lower and a large portion of my cleavage was on display.

‘What are you doing?’ I asked, wondering what on Earth had changed to make him like this.

‘Be quiet. Tonight you will do as I say. You will not speak unless I give you permission. You will not get involved with any conversations about politics. You will not attempt any humour. That dress will not be readjusted any differently to how it is right now. And you will not complain at the way anybody treats you. Do you hear me?’ he snapped. I gaped, but nodded. He had never behaved like this with me before, it was frightening. ‘Now go out and get in the car.’

I obeyed and made my way to the black Bentley that was sitting in the front drive. I caught a glance of my appearance in the polished surface before I opened the door to get in. He had used magic to change my make-up and hair. I could hardly recognise myself.

‘Wow, she’s hot!’ I heard a whispered voice say and my head twisted round.

‘Shut up you moron, she’s heard you!’ a different voice said, but I still could not pin point where from. My father was now fast approaching the car from the house and I got in without another thought to the voices. The driver sat in silence, facing forward as I closed the door and fought the urge to pull up the dress. Once we were both seated the driver set off.

 

Upon arrival at a large country estate, my father got out of the car and moved to help me out of the other side. He placed my hand on his arm and walked along the cobbled floor to the steps that led up to a large and stately front door and an equally large and stately old man standing outside it.

‘Good evening Charles, it is good to see you again.’ The man said in a gruff voice, his eyes leaving my father’s face and travelling down my body.

‘And you Otto. This is my daughter, Rosa.’ I went to lift my hand, expecting that this new man, Otto, would want to shake it. Instead he lifted his hand and ran a finger from the base of my throat down the middle of my breasts to where the dress stopped him. I let out a tiny gasp and Otto laughed.

‘Oh, you have kept her untainted have you Charlie? Very wise.’

‘I thought so.’ My father agreed and led me forward again into the house itself. Once we were inside I finally realised something. This was not a conventional business meeting of his. This was a Warlock meeting. I had never been to one before, not a proper one, but once we were inside I could feel all the magic around me. That only meant one thing…

‘Do not make a noise when somebody touches you.’ My father hissed in my ear.

‘But…’

‘And do not argue with me! You must have realised by now what all of this is about. If you have to make a noise at least make it sound like you’re enjoying it, I will not have you ruin this. I have worked too hard on this match for you to freeze up. Do you hear?’ he whisper shouted. I nodded again, feeling utterly helpless. This was not what I was expecting at all, I didn’t feel like I knew him at all. I desperately wished I had gone with Richard, I felt like I was being thrown to the wolves.

We continued to walk, passing several men whose eyes never made it higher than my chest, until we reached what must have been a ball room in its day, but was now filled with standing Warlocks, at least ninety percent of them male. I gulped.

The next couple of hours were awful. I was led around from group of people to group of people, my father talking and me being stared at and touched on occasion. No matter how hard I tried I still flinched when someone reached out to me. My father had decided to ignore it after the first few times and now just talked about me as though I wasn’t there.

Finally, after we had been round most people my father leant down to my ear and whispered

‘Stand up straight.’ I did and looked at him, hoping he would elaborate, which he didn’t, just led me over to a new group, all of whom had their eyes trained on me.

‘Charles, so good to see you. Rosa, we have been simply dying to meet you.’ A good looking man in his late fifties said to me. He had a slight accent that might have been German, but I couldn’t tell.

‘Good evening.’ I answered, my voice coming out higher than usual. Everybody around me laughed.

‘Look at her, she’s scared.’ One of the few women said scathingly. She too was in her fifties, but looked like she had had some work done. From the look on her face I could see that I wouldn’t be getting any help from her.

‘She’s a pretty little thing isn’t she?’ The man who had spoken to me before said, extracting me from my father’s arm and turning me round for the small crowd that had gathered to see.

‘Now Kristof, she’s for your son, not for you.’ Another unknown voice said from the crowd. Kristof laughed and pulled me so that my back was flush to his front.

‘Maybe he’ll let me borrow her once he’s done.’ He said, trailing his fingers down my stomach. I closed my eyes, wishing this wasn’t happening, that it was a dream and I would wake up at any moment. Without warning Kristof pushed me away from him.

‘Philipp, do you like her?’ he said as a younger version of him grabbed my arms. He had blonde hair and a fair complexion with good height, but his grey eyes were cold yet hungry as he looked at me.

‘Turn around.’ He said, the corner of his mouth lifting as he stared openly at the bare flesh showing on my chest.

‘Turn around Rosa!’ My father barked. I did as I was told, hearing several comments about how “well trained” I was for him but would need a “firm hand”.

‘Well?’ Kristof asked as I faced Philipp again. Instead of answering he stepped forward, putting one arm around my back and holding me against him, while the other hand slipped under my dress to clutch my left breast. I jumped and tried to pull away, but he had me held too tight to escape. His head descended to my neck, kissing and biting it as his hand painfully kneaded my breast. I glanced at my father, hoping against hope that he might intervene. But he and Kristof were now standing together silently, looking unconcerned about what was happening to me. I started to shake, which made the crowd laugh again.

‘Is she pure?’ Kristof asked, loud enough for me to hear.

‘Isn’t that obvious, my friend? She reacts like a virgin. She’s never been touched. Your son will have all the rights to her body, unless you yourself would like a go.’ My father replied. I stared, horrified, torn between the state of the conversation and the man holding me to him. Kristof shrugged.

‘If my son decides to stud her out it will be up to the council to approve the bloodlines. I might have a turn when she is already swollen with child. Then I will not need the council’s approval.’

‘I want her now.’ Philipp said, barely raising his lips from my skin to say it. He pinched my nipple hard, making me squeak and earning even more laughs.

‘You need to be married first, so you will wait for tomorrow evening. Then you can fuck her however you want.’ Kristof said in a disapproving voice.

‘Oh that is a shame!’ The woman that had spoken earlier said ‘I would _love_ to see him break her in. I bet she squeals like a pig!’ more laughs followed this statement and to add insult to injury my nipple was pinched again so that I did squeal like she said. I wanted to cry but knew it would only make everyone laugh more, so I held the tears in. They seemed to like my discomfort and had no trouble believing that a great many of them were hoping that Kristof would relent and they would have some evening entertainment.

‘I want her now.’ Philipp repeated, as though he had not heard Kristof’s earlier dismissal.

‘No, boy, you will do as I say. Let her go, she will be in your bed soon enough.’ Kristof said, taking his son by the scruff of the neck and yanking him away from me. I breathed a sigh of relief as I was let go. ‘You better get her to her room Charles. Lock her in. I want him kept out and her not to try to escape.’ Kristof said pointing to his son and then to me. My father stepped forward and took my arm.

‘Until tomorrow everyone.’ He said, before he half dragged me away. I felt like I couldn’t walk properly; my knees were shaking so badly. Once we were out of the ball room and had climbed a couple of flights of stairs he finally spoke again.

‘Well it wasn’t how I planned it to go, but they liked you, so you did well.’ He said sounding pleased.

‘Daddy, please don’t make me marry him.’ I whispered anxiously. But it was a mistake to have said anything. He turned on me.

‘Don’t you dare! Don’t you even dare start this with me girl! I have worked so hard to get that family to agree to even look at you. They are the most influential magical family in Europe and one of the richest. You have been so lucky to be chosen by them, even Kristof might be persuaded to get you pregnant, your social standing will be elevated by that. And you think I’ll just pull out of that deal? Don’t be so naïve!’ he shouted

‘But…’

‘No! No more! Your objections will get you nowhere. If I have to drag you to the alter I will do. Philipp knows what he’s meant to do to you after the ceremony, if you protest he will hurt you to get what he wants.’ I stayed silent as he stopped to take breath. He made me walk forwards until we got to the room I assumed I was staying in tonight. ‘Two of the elders will come to brief you on the ceremony, the wedding night and what is expected of you afterwards, tomorrow morning. They will get you ready to go and then I will arrive to take you to the room you will be married in.’

I nodded again. I had nothing to say to him now. I felt like I didn’t know him at all. This man was a stranger to me in so many ways. But I could also see that this was his ultimate plan since I was born. He was always planning on selling me off. Keeping me away from anyone I might get too close to, keeping my employment related to him. It was so that I was ready for this.

He unlocked the door we stood next to and gave me a little shove through it. Before I could turn round I heard it slam shut and the key turn in the lock. I felt cold and alone in a room I had never seen before, wearing clothes I wasn’t comfortable in. I wondered if anything I had been told about my world by my father was true. The Warlock’s behaviour tonight was disrespectful and cruel, whereas the vampire I had met had been truthful and somewhat understanding, despite the mood swings. I wished I was with him. I wished I was back in my living room, with my head on his knees while he stroked my hair. Why didn’t I go? He wouldn’t be able to help me now, it was too late.

I lay down on the bed still wearing the horrible dress and attempted sleep, hoping that somehow I might be able to drift off without having any nightmares of wandering hands.


	7. Chapter 7

I was sat up in bed the next morning when the two elders came in. I had draped the duvet over my shoulders to help cover myself and keep warm. They placed a hard wooden chair each for them to sit on in front of me and exchanged looks before they began the talks, taking it in turns to speak.

‘The ceremony itself is really just symbolic. Your father has signed the documents already, but they want it to seem like it’s your choice. It’s happening in the evening so that you’ll be taken to his rooms straight away. The consummation is the last thing that binds the marriage, so it’s important that it’s done as soon as possible. Most men will want to try and conceive as soon as they can so be prepared not to get a lot of sleep tonight.’

‘A word of advice, you would be better just to spread your legs and let him do what he needs to. They like it when you struggle and young Philipp is heavy handed. It doesn’t need to hurt any more than it needs to.’

‘Just do what he says and your life will be simple. You will come to enjoy it.’

‘We told you what your duty was when we first told you about this. Your husband and the council will decide…’

But by that point I had stopped listening. Bile had risen in my throat at their words and I had started to tremble again. They talked and talked, oblivious to the fact that I wasn’t listening. I let my mind wander, thinking about what would have happened if I had left before my father returned. I wished I could turn back time and change that. Or maybe I would go far enough back to see my mother. Had she known this would happen to me? Had it happened to her? She was rarely spoken of, I didn’t even know how she’d died…

The rest of the day dragged. The elders came to and from my room, giving me advice I didn’t listen to and helping me get ready. By the time my father appeared at the door it was dark, I was dressed in royal blue, which was apparently traditional, and was shaking again. He told me to stand up straight, but said no encouraging words. I was as good as sold, what did he need to say?

The ceremony was short. It was ten o’clock and the room was packed full of warlocks witnessing. I didn’t stop shaking throughout and felt lucky I wasn’t called to do or say anything, I would probably have got it wrong and been scalded by someone. At that stage I wasn’t sure who was in charge of reprimanding me, although I thought I was going to find out soon enough. The kiss at the end was unsettling. It was a promise of things to come and, although I couldn’t deny my new husband was handsome, I couldn’t get excited for him. I couldn’t get past the fear. As he took my hand and tried to walk me back down the aisle I found my knees were not going to cooperate. He let out a theatrical sigh scooped me up and carried me out, to jeers and whistles. I heard the same woman from yesterday call

‘Nice and loud Philipp! I want to be able to hear her!’

‘You’ll be able to hear her ten miles away Monica, just for you.’ He shouted over his shoulder. More laughs, I could go without hearing laughter for the rest of my life. I hated that it was aimed at me, that my humiliation was a source of happiness for them. I wanted to turn my face away from staring eyes of the crowd, but I didn’t want to put myself any closer to Philipp than I had to. A difficult situation given that he was carrying me.

Once again I thought of Richard. He was my source of comfort through the day, knowing that someone in the world was good to me made me feel better. Like I wasn’t facing the entire world alone. It didn’t stop the fact that this was a nightmare, but it made me feel like I shouldn’t give up. Not yet.

He didn’t take me back up to the room I had been in overnight, but turned in a different direction and took me to what I assumed was his room. A very large bed stood in the middle of the room and various pieces of dark wood furniture was littered about up against the walls. He put me down ungracefully and snapped his fingers. I heard the click of the lock and knew that this was it and there was no way I was getting out. I took a step back and was greeted with a slap across the face even though he hadn’t raised his hand. It was magic and a bad sign that he was using it already.

‘What was that for?’ I yelped, feeling my cheek with my hand. I was greeted with another magical slap.

‘Don’t ask questions! Stand still!’ he ordered, grabbing my shoulders and turning me so I wasn’t facing him anymore. He pressed himself to my back and pushed the straps of my dress over my shoulders, down my arms and then the silky material was pushed over my hips. Given that I had still not been allowed to wear a bra or any underwear the removal of the dress left him no more barriers and his hands ran over newly exposed skin, pinching and prodding. I could barely stand and had to lean against him to regain any balance. He finally settled on one hand moving from breast to breast, his fingers digging into the soft skin there, while the other hand fisted my hair and pulled my head back and round. His lips connected with mine and he thrust his tongue into my mouth. I shrieked, battling to get away from him but he pulled back long enough to let me get another magical smack before carrying on the assault on my mouth.

That was around the time I started crying. Hysterically. He pushed me away, looking disgusted, but advanced again a moment later and pushed me down onto the bed. I landed on my back and tried to struggle up onto my elbows, but he was already on top of me, pinning my legs down and apart. I gasped as the cold buckle of his belt made contact with my lower stomach. That seemed to give him an idea and he hurried to unbuckle it and pull it off.

‘Now, are you going to behave for me baby girl? Or am I going to have to discipline you?’ he said, fingering the leather. I struggled again; he was going to hit me anyway. He seemed to like it. I may as well give him a reason to. He brought the thin strip of leather down on my stomach harder than I was expecting and I screamed and tried to wriggle out from under him. He brought it down across my breasts this time, which hurt even more. I stilled and decided my previous plan was stupid. I was still crying as he grinned and took both of my hands, wrapping the belt around them and tying them together. He pinned them above my head and leaned down to force entry to my mouth again.

Unexpectedly a loud rumble echoed through the house. Philipp sat up and looked around. I listened, barely able to hear the commotion downstairs over my own ragged breathing.

‘Fire!’ someone shouted amongst the screaming, Philipp looked confused. This was obviously not part of his agenda for tonight. But a sound much closer to home had caught my attention. The sash window was opening, but I was the only one who had noticed, Philipp being too busy looking at the door. Everything then started to speed up, the window was now fully open and Philipp had caught sight of the movement. A flash of a person jumped in, but I couldn’t make out any details through another wave of tears, and headed straight for him, pushing him off of me. I could feel the magic radiate through the room, but the intruder didn’t seem affected by it. He landed a solid punch to Philipp’s face, breaking his nose and causing him to fall back, cracking his head on the corner of a dresser as he fell. I stared, peering from where I lay, but he didn’t get back up.

‘Rosa? Are you hurt?’ a familiar voice asked. At last I got a good look at the person who had entered through the window, but even without looking at him I knew who it was.

‘Richard?’ I croaked, trying to sit up. He rushed to my side and released my hands. ‘How did you find me?’ I whispered

‘I had you followed. Oh God, what did he do to you?’ he said, sounding distressed as he gathered up the thin sheet on the bed and wrapped me up in it. I started crying again as he tried not to touch my bare skin or hurt me. He took my face in his hands when he was done and wiped away my tears with his thumbs.

‘It’s ok; you’ll be fine sweet heart. Let’s get you out of here, good girl.’ He murmured as he helped me to get into a better position for him to pick me up. ‘Good girl, that’s it, you have to trust me now, you might not like this.’ He said as he approached the window. We were two storeys up and I clutched him tightly, wrapping my arms around his neck. ‘Rosa, look at me.’ I did, gazed straight into his eyes which held a look of concern but were resolutely staring into mine. ‘There is somebody waiting on the ground. They will catch you and take you away from here. I trust him and he will keep you safe. I will be right behind you, but I won’t see you for a couple of days. I promise you will be ok. Are you ready?’

‘Yes.’ I said shakily, I didn’t need to think about it. He told me I would be alright and that was good enough for me.

‘Good girl.’ He said again before shouting ‘Aidan, catch!’ and he dropped me out into the still night air.

My stomach lurched as I fell but it stopped faster than I thought it would when I landed in a pair of strong arms. Still wrapped tightly in my sheet I looked up nervously to be met by a pair of twinkling warm brown eyes and a shaggy mop of curly brown hair.

‘You know what to do Aid, go now. Look after her and stop enjoying this so much!’ Richard shouted from the window.

‘Will do boss!’ Aidan shouted back and winked at me as he carried me away from the worst twenty four hours of my life.

 

‘Dean, get the door, I’ve got her.’ Aidan said, slowing his pace. I looked up to see us approaching a dark grey Aston Martin parked on a track in a gloomy wooded area and another man standing by the open back door.

‘What’s happening? Is it all ok?’ the new man asked.

‘Yeah, we’ve been given the all clear to get out of here.’ Aidan said as he gently put me down on the back seat. ‘Try and lie down Rosa. Dean have you got that blanket? She’s been shivering.’

I lay down and had a blanket arranged over me carefully, not wanting to say that I wasn’t shivering from the cold but shaking from shock. I rested my head on the seat and the tears started flowing again. The front doors opened now I was settled down in the back and both men got into the front seats. They both turned round to survey me.

‘Rosa? Just so you know, I’m Aidan and this is Dean.’ Aidan said, pointing to his friendly faced companion. ‘If you need anything just let us know. We’re going to be on the road for quite a while so if you’re hungry or…need to use the…ladies room then let us know so we can find the best place to stop. Ok?’

‘Thank you.’ I said quietly. They seemed happy with this and Dean started the engine and pulled out of the dingy track with wheels spinning and headlights glaring.

I shut my eyes, hoping that it would help stop the tears, which it did to a degree. I could sense Aidan turn in his seat at regular intervals to check on me, but it was some time before either of them spoke.

‘I can see why he likes her. She’s very pretty.’ Aidan said quietly, obviously assuming I was asleep.

‘There must be something more about her than looks to get Richard interested. Out of any of us he has definitely been hit by the handsome stick, the list of women that have shown interest in him is unreal, but has stayed completely alone. He has been obsessed with her Aid, there is something else going on.’ Dean said, equally quietly. I hadn’t noticed before, but neither of them had English accents. In fact, I hadn’t heard either of their accents all the time I had been in that house with the Warlocks. I took comfort from that, they didn’t remind me of anything bad.

‘Do you think he drank from her?’ Aidan asked. I didn’t understand the question and strained my ears for Dean’s answer.

‘Meh, it’s possible. Richard’s cautious. If he did do it there will be a reason for it.’ Well that didn’t answer anything at all.

‘I just don’t understand. Why get interested in a Warlock’s daughter in the first place? What’s so special about her if he doesn’t want to bed her?’ I cringed at that statement. I could go right off men if that’s all they thought women were for.

‘There’s more to a person than how good they are in bed.’ I croaked, opening my eyes a crack and watching Aidan jump. He turned round and I saw a guilty expression on his face.

‘I’m sorry, I thought you were asleep. This is just so unlike Richard, we feel like we’ve been kept in the dark and we don’t know why. I’m sorry if I offended you.’

‘It’s fine. You have more right than anyone to talk about me after this evening.’ I said, blinking some more tears away. Aidan reached back and held my hand.

‘Do you want to talk about it?’ he asked gently, but I shook my head, tears spilling out again ‘its ok, its ok.’ He cooed ‘Dean, pull over, I’m going to sit in the back with her.’

The car slowed and stopped. Aidan was out in a flash and walked round to the door nearest my head. He got in and I lifted my head so he could sit. He helped me settle my head on his lap and pulled my blanket up to my neck.

‘Is that ok?’ he asked, stroking my hair. I nodded and he carried on delicately arranging my hair. I found it soothing, it reminded me of Richard and that evening he’d tried to persuade me to leave with him. More tears leaked from my eyes at the memory. I had never really been one for crying, my father never liked it, so I felt like now the flood gates had opened I couldn’t stop.

The car was mostly quiet for the rest of the night. Dean and Aidan swapped places every hour or so and I drifted in and out of an uneasy sleep, crying again when I woke. When the sun was rising Dean decided they were going to get some food. He laughed at the nervous look on my face at this statement and said

‘We won’t be eating you and even if we did we wouldn’t kill you. It’s a common misconception about us.’

‘You don’t kill anyone?’ I asked wearily but interested.

‘Not if we can help it no. If we want to turn someone then yes, the blood has to be dead before it can join with ours. It’s how we got called the “undead” because we can turn a corpse into a vampire-’

‘Providing all important bits are still there.’ Aidan interrupted

‘Yeah, like the head and heart and shit.’

‘And shit?’ I asked

‘Well, not literal shit. But you know, shit. Anyway, so long as all of that is there and they haven’t been left somewhere to rot quickly we have about five days where they are suitable for changing. So when some humans saw people they recognised walking around again it gave out a bad impression. After five days it’s a no go though, and if the blood is still from the living nothing happens.’ Dean explained happily. All this talk of blood made me feel a bit sick so I didn’t press for more details.

It wasn’t long before we pulled up outside a grotty roadside café. I needed the loo so Aidan got a long but scratchy old coat out of the boot and they both looked away while I untangled myself from the sheet and managed to pull it on. They helped me out and inside the building. My legs felt like jelly, which made me unhappy again and I ended up needing to be escorted right up to the door of the ladies room. Once inside the cubicle I took off the coat, hoping that the squinty eyed man that stared at me from behind the counter had not set up a hidden camera in there.

I came out, coat back on, to find Dean with his arms full of greasy food and Aidan with his hands out ready to help me back. I took the coat off and put the sheet back around me after I was helped into the car. We were parked in a far corner of the car park which was shadowed by trees, which turned out to be lucky as the moment I had finished a blueberry muffin I had to get out of the car, sheet and all, to lean on the grass verge to be violently sick. Unsurprisingly, this made me cry again. Both Dean and Aidan were at my side immediately, Dean holding my hair away from my face and Aidan handing me a bottle of water when I resurfaced. Once I was sure I wasn’t going to throw up again Aidan carried me back to the car and handed me a pack of mints.

The rest of the journey was completely uneventful; I just lay there and drank my water. I had no idea where we were going, but save food breaks, toilet breaks and fuel breaks we were travelling constantly. I had been rescued on the Saturday night but it wasn’t until the Monday evening that we reached our destination. I didn’t think that there was anywhere in England that would have taken us so long to reach and I was pretty sure that we hadn’t crossed water.

Once we had stopped I raised myself into a sitting position. I was so tired, I had been shaking all the time I was awake and my muscles were sore, not to mention I hadn’t been able to get a proper sleep. But my mouth dropped at the view through the window. We were in the courtyard of an enormous castle, with turrets and battlements and everything.

‘This is Coille-nan-Ridirean, or Knightswood. In the Highlands.’ Aidan said, answering my unasked question.

‘I’ve never heard of it.’ I said, gazing round. I didn’t think I’d ever seen anywhere so fascinating.

‘There’s a reason for that.’ Dean muttered as he got out of the car and stretched. Aidan followed suit and opened my door too. As I peered out I saw the heavy oak doors of the castle swing open and a shorter older man with greying hair stepped out, followed by a slight younger man with brown hair and glasses.

‘Ah you’re here, spot on your ETA.’ The older man said. He had a Scottish accent with didn’t surprise me, I supposed he was a resident here. ‘Hello young lady, I’m Ken and this is Adam. Welcome to Knightswood. Can we get you a drink?’ he asked kindly.

‘Can I have a black coffee please?’ I asked, thinking it was time for a change from water. Adam nodded and headed back in through the door.

‘Richard will be here soon, he was only five minutes behind you and Graham will be here in a couple of hours.’ Ken said, addressing Dean and Aidan. ‘How was your journey?’

‘Good. No signs of any trouble; the car is sweet, we might have to get one each.’ Aidan said, patting the Aston affectionately. I had to admit, while it was a little cramped in the back I hadn’t been that uncomfortable in it.

I had drifted away from the conversation and was now leaning my head against the back of the seat with my eyes closed, when I heard a roar of a motorbike engine. I opened my eyes when the engine was turned off to see Richard in full leathers, taking off a helmet and stepping of the back of the bike.

‘Were you followed?’ Ken asked before he had both feet on the ground.

‘No, I checked several times but there was no sign we were followed at all.’ He said as he strode across the block paving and knelt down in front of me. Guess what happened next? Correct, the crying started. ‘How are you Rosa?’ he asked wiping my tears away.

‘Ok.’ I managed to say, but my voice sounded strangled. He carefully arranged my limbs so he could pick me up and let me press my face into the crook of his neck.

‘How was she on the journey?’ Richard asked.

‘Not good Rich. She’s been crying nearly the whole time and shaking. She hasn’t had anything to eat; she couldn’t keep it down and then didn’t want anything but water.’ Dean replied. I wasn’t offended; it was the truth after all.

‘Adam’s gone to get her a coffee.’ Aidan said.

‘No, Aid, go after him and get her some hot milk. Put some Brandy in it too.’ Richard commanded.

‘Are you trying to get me drunk?’ I asked blearily.

‘No, my little Rosebud, I’m hoping it will help you sleep.’ He said, kissing my forehead tenderly.

‘If you say so.’


	8. Chapter 8

The castle looked immeasurable in size as I was carried in; the turrets and battlements loomed overhead, steadily watching the outside world. The stone was beautiful; it looked immaculate so that I couldn’t even guess how old it was. It might have been built last year for all I could tell. The crying had eased somewhat since Richard strode out in front of the others, but it was replaced by exhaustion. I buried my face closer to him and he responded with a ‘good girl’ repeated over and over in a gentle, hushed voice.

I felt like a little piece inside of me had been put back together. I still felt insecure but then I _had_ just been sold off like livestock; I think I had a good reason to not be alright at that moment. But I was in the arms of someone I could trust. And I knew I could trust him. Don’t ask me how, but it was the one thing in my life that I was set in stone. I should have trusted him when it mattered, now all I had was regret and gratitude that he had come for me.

He took me through the great oak doors and into the entrance hall. The ceiling was vaulted above us and there was a subtle light emanating around that I couldn’t locate the source of. He took me up some stairs, down some corridors, round some corners; I found myself glad that I wasn’t planning an escape as there was no way I could remember where we were heading.

Every wall was covered in paintings, originals too by the look of it; the type with massive gold frames and noble gentlemen and ladies posing. I leant comfortably on his shoulder and gazed at the faces in paintings as we went past, wondering if they had peaceful lives, or whether theirs had been disrupted like mine.

He finally slowed, opened a smaller wooden door and took me inside. It was richly decorated in red and gold. The most amazing tapestry covered the entirety of one of the vast walls, but I didn’t understand what it was portraying. There was a large window, at least fifteen feet high, letting the evening sun into the room. Richard didn’t seem to notice how awestruck I was by this room and settled me down on a big four poster bed. The leather of his jacket stuck to my skin as he went to move away. Panic flooded me as he stepped back and I clutched any part of him I could reach, which happened to be his arm.

‘Please don’t leave me.’ I said, a couple of fresh tears flowing down my cheeks. He bent over me and wiped the tears away with his hands, still hushing.

‘I’m not going to leave you, but I’m just going to pull the curtains on the window shut so you can sleep better.’ He said softly, waiting until I had nodded in understanding before moving away.

I rested my head against the plump cushions and watched him close the heavy red curtains so that the room was plunged into darkness. I couldn’t see very well, but guessed that his sight in the darkness was better than my own. I heard a match strike and a small light emanated from across the room. He’d lit a candle stick and it illuminated his face to show what I could only assume were worry lines that I had never noticed before. He walked over to me and set the candle down on a small bedside table.

‘Are you feeling any better?’ he asked as he began to rearrange cushions for me. I grabbed for his hand again and he stopped what he was doing to crouch beside me, tracing steady circles on the back of my hand.

‘I’m right here.’ he said, as though he’d guessed my thoughts again. Although it wasn’t hard to guess given that had his fingers in a death grip. ‘I think I’d better get you _into_ the actual bed rather than on top of it. And you should come out of that sheet. I’m just going over to that chest of draws behind me to find you something else to wear.’ He said, standing up. I reluctantly let go of his hand, knowing he would be back.

He returned to my side a few moments later and told me to lift my arms. I did so and he slipped a large, loose shirt over my head. It was far too big for me and so long that it nearly reached my knees. He then began to help me unravel the sheet. He seemed to shut himself off at this point, as though he was a doctor and I was his patient. Everything was clinical; any sight of bare skin didn’t seem to affect him. I was glad of this, I didn’t need more advances; I wanted trust and safety.

‘Alright now, put your arms round my neck for me. Just like that, good girl.’ He said, leaning down to allow me to reach him. He then lifted me with one arm and pulled back the bedcovers before putting me back down again. He was just lifting the covers over me again when there was a knock at the door and Adam and Aidan came in. They had a small tussle in the doorway but stopped as Richard turned to them. I couldn’t see much of them, but could just about make out their faces in the light from the doorway.

‘We’ve brought the milk like you asked for.’ Adam said, giving Aidan a filthy look.

‘With Brandy?’ Richard replied, taking the mug off of Adam, dipping his little finger in it and tasting. He nodded to himself and then looked up at the pair of them.

‘How is she?’ Aidan asked, trying to peer round Richard to look at me.

‘She needs some rest, so out you two, give her some peace.’ Richard answered. He had his back to me, so I couldn’t see the look on his face, but Adam and Aidan both obeyed without a second thought and the door closed behind them. I thought I caught Adam say

‘See, you didn’t need to come up, he’s managing just fine on his own!’

Richard rolled his eyes as he made his way back to me.

‘I want you to drink at least half of this.’ He said, as I sat up in the bed and reached out for the mug. He shook his head and moved the hand carrying the mug out of my reach. ‘Look at you, you’re still shaking, I would bet you’ll spill more of it down yourself if I let you hold it.’

So instead he sat down beside me and guided the cup to my lips. I could taste the brandy and recoiled slightly, only to be met by a disapproving

‘Uh uh uh, just half.’ And some light pressure on the back of my head. So I drank until over half of the liquid had gone and he seemed happy. The mug was put aside and he went to stand, but once again I felt fear course through me and clung to one of his, still leather clad, legs.

‘I’m only going to bring a chair closer.’ He said reassuringly, but I didn’t want him as far away as that. I wanted his arms round me and the feeling of his hard, muscled body against me, to remind me he would protect me.

‘Can’t you just get in?’ I croaked.

‘In?’ he asked, looking at me askew

‘Into the bed?’ I clarified. He looked taken aback

‘I didn’t think…I thought, perhaps, you would rather be alone.’ He said, not wishing to elaborate. I shook my head.

‘With anyone else I would, but you make me feel safe.’ I said honestly. His eyes softened and he leant towards me to tenderly kiss my forehead.

‘Let me change out of the leathers first.’ He said and this time I let him go without stopping him.

He wandered off into a shadowy corner, so I couldn’t see him very well. I averted my eyes from his direction anyway so I could only hear the rustle of clothes as he dressed. I was in a hunched sitting position when he returned, hugging my knees. He was now dressed in a pair of tracksuit bottoms and a t shirt which looked very different from the smart suits I had previously known him wear. He quickly got into the bed and I shuffled over, reaching for him. He accepted me into his arms without hesitation and I curled into him, burying my face in his chest.

The last thing I remember before sleep took hold of me was his fingers running through my hair as he uttered soothing words under his breath.

 

 

 

I regained consciousness to find there were several low voices speaking around me. I didn’t open my eyes but realised that Richard was lying on his back and I was draped across his chest. He had one arm held possessively around me and I could feel his other hand covering my hand on his chest. I could feel his chest vibrate when he spoke and decided to feign sleep to find out what they were saying.

‘It doesn’t encourage me anymore about this situation Richard. The fact that no one has followed her is a bad sign.’ Ken’s voice said, quietly but crossly.

‘I know that, but it buys us some time to think of a plan. A plan that we should have thought of before this happened so we could have got her out of there without having to break into a Warlock den.’ Richard replied sternly.

‘We should have thought of something before we got her out, true, but…’ Ken started, but Richard headed him off.

‘I was not going to leave her there to be raped by some stuck up prick just so she can provide him with and endless supply of his worthless children. You know they like the men to try and get them pregnant on the first night? If we’d left her one more day, just one, she might have been carrying that bastard’s baby right now and that’s without mentioning the trauma she would have gone through. I know it was a rash move and I know we are vulnerable right now, but I could not abandon her to that.’ He said, the anger in his voice receding to desperation. I had had to restrain myself from recoiling when he’s mentioned what would have happened to me. It obviously hurt him to say it; I could feel his heart beating erratically, no rhythm at all, I wondered what made a vampires heart beat like that, but I was interested in listening to a conversation about me so I didn’t dwell on it.

‘Do you know how much he did to her Rich?’ Aidan’s voice said.

‘I got up to the window in time to see him take her dress off, so I’m pretty sure I saw everything. He didn’t get very far, thank God, but I’d have stepped in before then whether we were ready or not.’ Richard said his voice bitter. If I’d been awake, well, not pretending to be asleep, then I would have asked why he hadn’t stepped in when he saw me getting hit. Perhaps it was time for me to wake up? No, not yet.

‘Why her?’ A well-spoken, yet unknown to me, male voice said from quite close by.

‘I met her by chance, expecting her to be a bitch. But she was lovely, I was intrigued. So I decided I wanted to get to know her better. She isn’t like the rest of them, certainly nothing like Charles. And when I did some research into some of the things she told me…I couldn’t let that happen.’

‘But why _her_ , Richard? Don’t shoot me down, but you’re currently in bed with her lying on you, are there…’ the unknown voice said again, but Richard wasn’t going to let him finish that sentence either.

‘I am here because she wanted me to be here, Graham. I was going to leave her alone, but she panicked whenever I stepped away. She’s so fragile; I wanted her to be able to sleep so I did what she wanted.’

‘But you have never been known to pander to someone’s wishes.’ Graham persisted. I felt Richard’s muscles tense underneath me, as though he was readying himself for a fight. I almost felt like rolling off of him, if he did stand up and start something I didn’t really want to be in the way. But the hand that was placed over mine tightened its hold and I began to wonder whether he had realised I was awake.

‘When have I ever let you down? You have to trust me. This is the biggest thing that’s ever happened to us. There’s always been a big divide between vampires and warlocks; this development is only going to make that worse. But hopefully we will come out stronger in the long run, I’ve told you why, I have been upfront with you all. My intentions behind anything to do with this young woman are of no consequence to our plans, I will tell you if that changes, but for now I don’t want any more questions.’ Richard commanded. There was a short silence that followed, there was going to be no argument here. ‘If there is nothing pressing you have to say then if you wouldn’t mind leaving. I don’t want her disturbed.’ There was no argument there either. I heard far more people than I had expected stand up and leave the room quietly. Nobody spoke and the door closed with a soft click as the last person exited.

‘How long have you been awake?’ Richard asked after a beat. I opened my eyes and looked up at him. He was looking back at me intently, a slight crease in his brows.

‘Not long. How did you know?’ I said. He smiled kindly back and squeezed my hand.

‘Your heartbeat increased at some of the things I said. I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to cause you any distress.’

‘It’s fine. Your people need to know. How big is this? I know my dad will kill me if he ever gets his hands on me, but what else does it affect? I don’t understand.’ I questioned. He sighed and moved me away from him. I found my head was now resting on the pillow and he’d turned onto his side so that he was looking directly into my eyes. He took my hands and threaded his fingers through mine.

‘Do you remember I told you that the warlock’s are building an army?’ he said. I thought back and found the memory of him trying to convince me to leave. I nodded.

‘Yes.’

‘Well, they began their plans now so that in the future they would have enough well groomed warlocks to take over as the most significant creatures on this planet. The humans would be dominated and ruled over, the rest of us…there will be no rest of us. They are not ready yet though, they may not be for another two or three generations but we have made the first move now. They were not expecting that and, truth be told, we were not expecting it either. It means both sides are at a disadvantage and nobody knows where the other stands, until one side makes another move.’

‘And who do you think will do that?’

‘Not us right at the moment. We don’t have any plans, as you may have heard, so now we wait.’ He said. I nodded in response. ‘Do you need some more sleep? Some more milk?’

I stayed silent. All of this was going on and he seemed more concerned for me.

‘You saw him hit me, didn’t you?’ I asked, amazed at how weak my voice sounded.

‘I did.’ He said, his face turning in to a mask of guilt.

‘Why didn’t you tell them?’

‘I didn’t think you’d want them to know.’ He admitted. My heart felt like it was swelling and breaking at the same time.

‘So much thought for my consequence, isn’t it more important that they know everything?’ I said. ‘They’ll come after me, you know that, Kristof and Philipp will be as angry as my dad. They’re stinking rich too and very influential, I just…don’t want to compromise you any more. It’s my fault you’re already in this…whatever it is, if I can make your life easier please let me.’

‘Philipp…your husband?’ he asked stiffly and I cringed at the thought.

‘Yes, and Kristof is his father.’ I answered. He grew tense again, his face sullen and thoughtful. ‘I imagine Philipp will give an account on what you look like. Warlocks are not exactly observant, well, the men are not, but he’ll have enough for you to be identified. Is the magic not working on you something specific to vampires?’ He nodded. ‘Then that’ll be the nail in the coffin, no offence, does talking about coffins offend you? You can’t sleep in one, or you wouldn’t have a bed. Is that right? Oh dear, I have to say, it’s difficult to know what to do.’

He was smiling at me now, I’d never really been one for verbal diarrhoea but I could see myself being unable to stop if I carried on. Did I really ask him if he was offended by coffins?

‘All you have to do is relax. For the moment we will be alright.’ He said soothingly.

‘But once they find out it’s you…’

‘They shouldn’t find that out too easily.’ He said self-assuredly. I frowned, how did he know that?

‘But Philipp…’

‘Is dead.’ He said coolly. My jaw dropped and I stared at him, wide eyed.

‘Did you kill him?’ I whispered.

‘Yes, although I didn’t mean to. When he fell back he hit his head on the corner of a very hard wood chest of drawers and cracked his skull. Unfortunately, even magic doesn’t always work against the forces of the ordinary world.’ He said levelly. I still stared back. His eyes searched my face.

‘Richard, please promise me that, if it looks like the warlocks will win this and I have to go back with them, you will kill me first.’ I finally managed to spit out.

‘What?’ he said, his voice low with anger. He was squeezing my hands even tighter now.

‘I won’t go back to them Richard. They’ll sell me out to the highest bidder. I can’t…deal with it; I’m not as strong as I…as I thought I was.’ I said haltingly; I had started crying again. His face relaxed as I spoke and he let go of my hands to pull me close to him.

‘Sweetheart, you are strong, but you were preyed upon with something you are so naive about by someone who should have known better. This is not your fault.’ He said, holding me tightly.

‘It’s my fault you’re all dragged into this.’

‘I don’t want to hear more of you blaming yourself. It was the warlock’s fault for treating you like an animal and my decision to come back for you. I will deal with everyone here; we will work this out and keep you safe.’ He said sternly. I wrapped my arms round him as best I could in this awkward position and held on to him as tightly as I could, pressing my body against him so that he could shield me from inclement winds. His arms tightened in response.

‘Are you ready to sleep some more?’ he asked in hushed tones. I nodded into his chest and closed my eyes to allow sleep to take me.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Argh, I am not particularly happy with this chapter but I keep tweaking it and I’m still not happy. So I’m going to post it anyway and move on for the time being. In essence I am apologizing in advance and going to hope that the next chapter is written considerably better! 
> 
> Thank you to everybody following the story, please don’t be afraid to kick me up the backside if it’s been a while since I updated. I don’t bite, but I do have a habit of forgetting things or pushing them to the back of my mind! xx

I groggily opened my eyes to find myself surrounded by pillows and covered by a heavy duvet. It still looked dark in the room, but those thick curtains would have kept out any light from outside anyway, so unless there was a well-lit clock in the room I wasn’t going to find out for how long I had slept. I buried my face in the pillow I was hugging to my front and then stilled. I was alone in the bed.

‘Richard?’ I cried, as I sat up and tried to look about the dark room, my heart beating wildly as I tried to locate him.

‘Rosa?’ A familiar voice, albeit not the one I was looking for, said from near where I remembered the door to be.

‘Aidan?’ I questioned as I recognised the Irish accent. A dark shaped moved quickly to me from where the voice had come and I saw Aidan’s face come into view. ‘Where’s Richard?’ I said, unable to stop myself from cowering away from his bold movement as he approached me. He seemed to notice my reaction to him and stilled, throwing his hands up in the air to show me he meant no harm.

‘He went downstairs to talk as he thought you would be disturbed if people were talking in here. He told me to keep an eye on you and let you know all is well if you woke up.’ he said, his eyes scanning me to see if he could approach. I sighed.

‘I’m sorry Aidan, you can come over. I’m just feeling a bit muddled still.’ I said, rubbing my eyes, which had been getting used to the darkness by now. I felt the bed sink and looked up to find him sitting on the edge of it, giving me a curious look.

‘You look better.’ He said. When I looked at him sceptically he said. ‘Well, you don’t look quite so bad.’ He admitted. A short laugh escaped me. It felt like it had been such a long time since I’d found anything genuinely funny.

‘At least you’re honest.’

‘How do you feel?’ he asked seriously.

‘Like shit.’ I rubbed my forehead ‘But I do feel better now I’m here. Now I’m not panicking I know Richard is here, I can feel him.’ I looked at Aidan to find he was looking me over, especially focusing on my neck. ‘I must sound mad.’

‘Not mad, no.’ he said slowly.

‘If not mad, then what?’ I asked. But he shook his head.

‘It doesn’t matter. Are you hungry? Or thirsty? I can send Adam for something if you need it.’ He asked, quickly changing the subject, but I allowed it to raise another question.

‘No, I’m fine thanks. What was all that about with Adam when you both brought me up the milk? You looked like you were having a disagreement.’

‘Oh, that wasn’t a disagreement, not really. Adam’s great. But he was told to get you a drink, so he wanted to do it, but I wanted to take it so I could see how you were. So we both came up. But Richard seemed to have things under control.’ Aidan said shrugging. I smiled inwardly, remembering how attentive Richard had been to me. He definitely had everything under control. I wished he was here.

‘Do you know when he’ll be back?’ I said, feeling needy for asking, but I didn’t feel like I could settle down again now.

‘I don’t know, he’s in a meeting.’ He said shortly. ‘I could ring him.’

‘No, no I didn’t realise he was in a _meeting_. I don’t want to disturb him.’ I said quickly, remembering how my dad had never liked to be interrupted when he was in a meeting, which he seemed to be in more often than not. My thoughts must have shown on my face as Aidan said

‘He won’t mind, if you need him then I’ll call him.’ he said, pulling a mobile out of his pocket.

‘No, do not ring him!’ I said sternly, or at least I hoped it was. He put the phone down and pushed it away.

‘Alright, alright.’ He said huffily. ‘He’s not like your dad, you know. He would not be angry for you wanting to see him.’

‘I have no illusions over that, but if he left the room for this meeting then it must have been important. If I keep on interrupting then he’ll never get anything finished.’ I said, slumping down on the pillows again. There was an uncomfortable pause. ‘It’s weird to think of a vampire using a mobile phone. The two things don’t seem to go together.’

‘We’re not like Dracula you know, we move with the times here.’

‘And here was me thinking you were an oversized mosquito.’ I said dryly. Unfortunately he didn’t seem to understand the humour in it and sat scowling at the opposite wall. ‘Lighten up Aid, at least I didn’t ask if you sparkle!’

He snorted then laughed.

‘What an awful way to try to explain why we have not been seen out in the sunlight much. I can’t even begin to comprehend how skin would sparkle.’

‘Why don’t you go out in sunlight?’

‘We do, it’s not really a problem for us now. Our eyes find bright sunlight quite painful, but we have sunglasses these days. Back in the day, before I was created, it could be a bit difficult with the sunlight. And a re-born corpse being recognised during daylight hours was a bit awkward too. It was much easier just to conduct ourselves at night.’ He shrugged.

‘What about the super speed thing?’ I asked, realising that I was getting some good, casual but true answers about the people I was staying with. It might be a rare opportunity to find out more.

‘Oh yeah, we’re faster than humans, but it depends on individual fitness of course. I’m pretty fast.’ He said smugly. I smiled at him.

‘I bet you are.’ He looked pleased at my answer.

‘When were you turned?’ I asked, hoping it wasn’t a touchy subject for him. After all, I wasn’t sure if it a done thing to talk about.

‘1917. During the first world war. I was a pilot, my plane went down.’ He shrugged again ‘Graham and Richard found me a few hours after I’d died. Apparently I’d broken my neck, but they fixed it, I still have no idea how, and Richard brought me back.’

‘Was it hard? To come back as a different…being?’ hoping that he wouldn’t shut down on me. Luckily he was somewhat of a talker and carried on quite happily. I was beginning to like him.

‘Kinda, yeah. I mean, I couldn’t go back to my family or anyone that knew me before. It’s difficult, we do get bloodlust at first, it’s totally controllable after a while, but you need to _learn_ to control it. It’s like an addiction, if you’re never taught how to stop you just start killing people. We were never meant to do that. If we did we could kill an entire population of humans, then we would have no food to survive off of. We need humans alive to be able to survive.’

‘But there are vampires that never control it?’

‘Yeah, we try and sort that out though, we have to be responsible. It’s like with kids, if you never teach them moderation they’ll think they can do things that are not socially acceptable.’

‘And killing people isn’t socially acceptable, well I didn’t know that!’ I said sarcastically.

‘Shut up.’ he said with a laugh, grabbing a pillow and throwing it at my head. I yelled and doubled up in hysterics. It wasn’t that funny, but I’d never been able to be like this with anyone before and it felt so good.

‘You have a really nice laugh, has anyone ever told you that?’ he said as my cackles subsided.

‘No, nobody. I don’t laugh that often.’

‘Well you will now. It probably seems quite scary from your view at the moment, but everyone here is great fun, wall to wall banter some days.’

‘Do you often have humans to stay?’ I asked curiously.

‘Never, we either get the blood bank stuff or eat out. Normally travel a bit too, don’t want anything looking suspicious.’

‘You make it sound so casual.’

‘It is once you’re used to it. Before long it’ll be like you’ve been here forever.’ He said happily.

‘I hope so; I don’t want to remember my other life.’ I said quietly. His stare was now one tinged with sadness and he turned around to sit cross legged on the bed.

‘Was it that bad?’ he asked seriously. I paused before answering, debating my answer.

‘No, no it wasn’t. The last couple of days were, but in general I shouldn’t complain. I had a good education, very good food. I was never denied clothes or, when I was a child, toys and games. I was lucky; I had it better than most. And you, you died in a plane crash, I have no right to act like a spoiled brat in front of you.’

‘It wasn’t that bad really, I don’t remember any of it.’ He said waving away my comments about him. ‘There must be things you wished were different. Like the laughing thing. What kind of friends did you have if you never found anything funny?’

‘I didn’t really have friends. I had one for a while, but he disappeared. He was a werewolf, it was so difficult for him, it made him very withdrawn.’

‘What happened to him?’ he asked, looking genuinely interested. I wished I could give him a better answer; I wished I knew the answer.

‘I don’t know.’ I said lamely. He reached over and grabbed the other pillow to throw at me.

‘Don’t look so ashamed about not knowing something! So you never found out, so what?’

‘I want to know.’ I said, throwing the pillow back at him and in doing so rearming him with the soft and fluffy ammunition.

‘You can’t know everything, it’s a physical impossibility!’ he said. Instead of chucking the pillow back he grabbed my duvet and yanked it.

‘There are things I _should_ know and what happens to people I care about _should_ be one of them!’ I said, grabbing my end of the duvet and battling with him to get control, but by this time I’d started laughing so hard I was finding it difficult. ‘Give it back!’ I gasped.

Suddenly he let go altogether and I flew backwards, narrowly missing bumping the back of my head on the headboard. I sat up

‘What the…oh.’ Aidan wasn’t looking at me anymore, but had frozen staring towards the door, which was now open. Standing on the threshold was Richard with the meanest frown that I had yet seen on him.

‘Aidan, out.’ He said sternly. Aidan got up from the bed and walked over to Richard, any humour that he had had previously had disappeared in an instant. On reaching Richard’s side Aidan tilted his head and hissed

‘You drank from her, didn’t you?’ This question induced an even greater frown from Richard, a feat that I would have thought impossible if I had not witnessed it.

‘Get out.’ Richard snarled and with a last dirty look, Aidan left, slamming the door behind him. Richard made a grunting sound before striding across the room to something I couldn’t quite make out in the dark.

‘What did he mean by that?’ I asked.

‘Never you mind.’ He snapped. It was now my turn to frown. I didn’t understand why he’d gone from caring to cranky in a few hours. Perhaps the meeting had gone badly?

‘Aidan told me you’ve been talking with some people. Did it all go ok?’ I inquired.

‘Fine.’ A draw banged shut and he came into clearer view again. I noticed he’d changed into a suit rather than the casual wear he’d supported when he’d been with me earlier. I looked him over, choosing to ignore the fact he seemed to be avoiding looking at me. But wait….had I done something to upset him? I couldn’t guess what, I had barely been awake and it was _he_ who left me alone in this room. Maybe I started talking in my sleep? But would that have made him angry? I didn’t know and I was not sure that I want to ask him.

‘Is Aidan coming back?’ I probed, thinking it an innocent question but it only seemed to make him less agreeable, not that he was being very agreeable in the first place.

‘No.’ he muttered stormily under his breath, it was only for my excellent hearing that I managed to catch what he said and in the tone that he said it in. Was he jealous of Aidan? Maybe I’ll test…

‘I hadn’t really thought about it before, but when Aidan pulled out a mobile phone I realised how strange it seemed that vampires had modern technology. Don’t you think? Or am I behind with the times? Aidan seemed to think so.’

‘You’ve been having a nice old chat with him have you?’ he asked scornfully. ‘I told him not to disturb you.’

‘He didn’t, I woke up, found myself alone and called out to you. He answered me, and then took the time to reassure me that you were not far away. I had some questions, he gave me satisfactory replies. He offered to call you, but I didn’t want you disturbed. If I had wanted to be left alone I suspect he would have left me alone.’ He made another unsatisfied noise but didn’t respond with words. That was enough of a confirmation for me that something Aidan and I had done was the cause of the problem. I didn’t know what; I had to admit I was once again finding his mood swings fairly hard to fathom without trying to work out his thought process.

‘How do you feel now?’ he asked, finally looking at me with searching eyes.

‘Much better thank you.’ I replied, meeting his gaze as confidently as I could. He looked away.

‘We’ll take you out to get you some clothes tomorrow; we have nothing that’ll fit you here.’

‘Is it safe for me to go outside?’ I asked nervously, gripping the duvet instinctively, as though it was going to protect me.

‘No, but we’ll take a few people with us and try and be quick. You can’t live in my clothes forever.’ He said, raking his fingers through his hair.

‘Don’t you have any women here that I could borrow something from?’

‘No, we don’t have that many women vampires. They tend to be…’ he paused.

‘What?’ I asked, curiously. I caught a very small smile on his lips.

‘Psychotic.’

‘And the reason for that is?’ I coaxed.

‘What do you mean?’ he said, looking at me askew.

‘There has to be a reason, doesn’t there? They aren’t just born like that are they?’ I contended.

‘In some ways they are. They wake from death in extreme pain, unable to produce children, unable to change their own vampires. They’re born with that. Then they are stronger, faster and smarter than humans, but until relatively recently they still had to defer to males. They would rebel, sometimes killing far too many people until someone had to stop them. In the end we stopped turning them.’ He said casually.

‘Are there any?’

‘Oh yes, of course. There are females with exceptional temperaments that took to it very well. They are now all in positions of power in one way or another. But none here.’

‘Boys club?’ I asked jokingly.

‘No. I suspect the women have better things to do than be here, they’re certainly never keen to accept any invitations of ours.’ He said dully.

‘You’re not happy about that?’ I asked, losing my humour when he didn’t respond to it.

‘I would prefer it if we were all united, maybe we will be some day. Perhaps sooner rather than later.’

‘What’s going to happen?’ I asked, hoping that something might have changed; that a plan might have been formed while I was asleep.

‘I don’t know yet, Rosebud, I don’t know.’


	10. Chapter 10

‘I thought you said you didn’t want to live in a castle.’ I said as Richard handed me a plate of scrambled eggs on toast. I was sitting up in bed and put the plate on my lap and dug in, not sure if it was the fact that I had barely eaten anything in the last few days, or that the scrambled eggs were really good, but it felt like I was eating the best food I’d ever tasted.

‘I don’t really live here. It’s Ken’s property. I have a house in London, an apartment in New York, a little cottage by the sea in New Zealand and a few others dotted about, but no castles.’ He said dismissively, sitting down in the chair he’d pulled near to the bed last night. He had been more distant with me since last night and, given that I thought any reason he had behind this was bound to be trivial, I was trying to think of ways to draw him back out again.

‘This room is yours though, isn’t it?’ I asked through a mouthful of food.

‘How did you know?’

‘Your clothes are kept in here.’ I said, swallowing the food ‘It’s a bit of a giveaway.’

‘Hmm, I suppose it is.’ He said. I wasn’t particularly sure if he was listening to the content of what I had said, his studious gaze had turned intent as he looked at me, which would normally have put me if my food if I wasn’t so hungry.

‘You’ve calmed down a lot. I’m surprised, when I first saw you in the back of the car when you arrived here I thought it’d take weeks and some counselling before you got to this stage.’ He said as I scraped the plate clean, deciding it was very unladylike to lick the last pieces of egg off of it.

I put the plate on the bedside table while I considered what he’d said.

‘On a personal level, comparing what actually happened to what might have happened has helped. Being in this room has become a safe place, and you have become a safe person. I feel like I don’t have to keep reliving it to help me understand what went wrong, or what I can do to prevent it next time. It wasn’t a standard attack where a victim looks to blame themselves, even if it really wasn’t their fault. I _know_ it’s not my fault I was born into what I was. I push it away from me while I know it’s not going to happen to me again. I shrank away from Aidan yesterday. I don’t want to be frightened of the people that protect me.’

‘You’ve never shrunk away from me.’

‘I’ve never felt threatened by you. I don’t know why; you certainly look terrifying at times. Perhaps it was because I knew you before…’ I trailed off. Richard’s interested, but calm look had gone and was replaced by self-reproach.

‘Ah.’ He said into the silence.

‘What?’ I asked suspiciously.

‘I have a confession to make.’ He said warily. I raised an eyebrow as he paused and he continued. ‘Not long before your father returned I went back to your house while you were asleep and…err….drank some of your blood.’ He rushed the last few words and stared down at his hands.

I thought back, remembering waking in the night before my life had changed. That was him was it?

‘I think I remember.’ I said, touching my throat.

‘I’m sorry. It was the only thing I could think of to help you. Drinking your blood created a link between us. It’s why you feel comforted when I’m near. We have a connection that’s inexplicable, you could move to any room in this place and I could find you without a second thought. I wanted to know where you are in case the worst happened…’

‘Which it did.’

‘Yes, but without the link being there I would have had to have looked through every window in that house to find you, as it was I didn’t even need to look, I knew you were there.’ He said defensively.

‘Ok, ok, I wasn’t slamming your idea, as it turns out it was a good one. But you could have asked me, I wouldn’t of said no.’ I said.

‘Really?’

‘If you had explained why it was a good idea then I would have agreed. I’m a woman, not an idiot.’ I said, unsure as to whether I felt grateful that he’d taken measures for my safety or whether I was annoyed at him for not consulting me and breaking into my house only to leave me sleeping.

‘I know that, I wasn’t saying you were, I just felt that if you had disagreed then I would have felt unable to do it how I did.’

‘You mean without my consent?’

‘I…Oh God, I didn’t look at it like that. I did what I thought was best.’ He said, embarrassment now adding to the myriad of expressions that crossed his face. He seemed genuine and I did trust his actions were made with the best intentions.

‘It _was_ for the best, but next time you want to do something like that can you please tell me? It’s my life too.’

He looked a bit taken aback, possibly because I hadn’t hit the roof, but he blinked rapidly and recovered quickly.

‘Yes, yes of course. If you will listen, I will talk.’

I nodded and swung my legs over the edge of the bed.

‘Alright then, you said we were going shopping today. What am I going to wear?’ I said cheerfully. He’d looked like he was going to start brooding again until I said that, but now he was frowning at me.

‘I thought you said that was what we’re going to do today?’ I asked, wondering if he’d changed his mind and not told me.

‘We are.’ He said, the frown not lifting. I started frowning now, it must be contagious.

‘Ok, I can’t go out dressed like this, so what am I going to wear?’ I asked, slowly, in case this was the type of thing he, as a man that plainly didn’t have regular domestic dealings with women, didn’t understand.

‘Why can’t you wear that?’ he queried, gesturing to the oversized t shirt.

‘A couple of reasons, for a start it’s not clean and I really need a shower before I go anywhere, so I cannot wear precisely this one. And even if you have another one, this is all I’m wearing. The wind blows and nothing is going to be left to the imagination, if you understand. I can cope without a bra, or shoes come to think of it, but I’m going to need something to safely cover my legs. I’m not comfortable flashing.’ I explained. Half way through he’d begun to look a bit uncomfortable; he was now avoiding eye contact and fidgeting in the chair.

‘Oh…oh of course not. No. If you want to have a shower, I err, I will see what I can do.’ he said, getting up from the chair and heading hastily out of the room.

I wasn’t being left with a body guard in my room today; apparently Richard felt like I’d made a significant enough improvement to not be watched. I got up and went to the small adjoining en-suite. I’d found it before, but hadn’t yet used it for a shower. I felt disgusting, but it had only been since the conversation with Aidan that the shakiness had started to leave me and I’d started to feel happier about leaving the bed. I turned on the water and, once it was warm, got in. My muscles began to relax instantly and I sighed at how good it felt to lose the tense feeling in my shoulders.

I stayed in there for longer than I had planned, but when I finally turned it off and got out I felt like my muscles had turned to jelly. I quickly dried myself off and bundled my hair up in a towel. The shirt I’d been wearing was lying in a sad heap on the floor and I grimaced at it. No, I’m not going to put you back on, I decided, and looked around for an alternative. I turned around and saw on the back of the door there was a long flannel robe. Took the couple of steps over and pulled it off its hook and threw my arms through its sleeves.

It was far too big for me; meant for someone with a much taller, broader frame than mine. But it did the job and I unlocked the after making sure it was secure before poking my head out into the room beyond.

The curtains had been drawn to reveal a sunny aspect from the window and illuminated the entire space. It really was a beautiful room; full of intricate and interesting furnishings and decorations. Although, arguably, its owner was equally as intricate and interesting. He was sat back in the chair, fingers intertwined with his head thrown back staring at the ceiling.

‘Is everything ok?’ I asked sheepishly. His eyes found me without moving anything else and fixed on my face.

‘Do women _always_ take that long in the shower?’ he asked in a bored voice.

‘No, I was enjoying it.’ I started towards him, hoping I would have something to wear, when I thought occurred to me.

‘Richard, we can’t go shopping. I have no money.’

He’d sat up by now and gave me a withering look.

‘Really Rosebud, do you really think me stupid enough to not have thought of that already?’ he asked, still sounding bored.

‘Well…’

‘Don’t worry, we are not without means. Keeping you fed and clothed will hardly bankrupt us.’

‘But…’ I argued, but he stood up and put his finger up to silence me.

‘Buy what you like, spend what you need. You will be with us for a long time, I want you comfortable here.’ I said in a softer tone. I nodded in understanding and he turned away to gesture to a small selection of clothes lying on the bed.

‘The best I can do I’m afraid. That pair of jeans is Adam’s, those are Dean’s. Use what you think fits best.’ he said, pointing at each in turn. ‘The belt should be small enough for you to keep the jeans up. There is another of my t shirts there; it should be big enough to hide how ill-fitting the jeans are. No shoes, but you said you could live with that?’

‘Yeah, but we’ll get some shoes first if that’s ok?’ I asked, comparing the waist sizes of the two jeans and deciding that Adams looked better suited to my current needs.

‘If that’s what you want. It does make sense.’ He said, thoughtfully plucking at a pillowcase. I watched him, wondering where his mind had taken him.

‘Richard?’ I asked, gently pulling him back into the real world.

‘Hmm?’

‘Can you turn away for a moment?’ I said, lifting up Adam’s jeans to indicate I wanted to change into them. He looked at me for a second before what I had said registered.

‘Oh.’ He said, and turned his back on me.

I yanked on the jeans and threw the t shirt on, deciding that I didn’t mind him seeing do up the belt, and pulled the towel from round my head.

‘You can look now.’ I said, tightening the belt. It wasn’t a bad fit; he was right when he said the t shirt would hide where the jeans bunched up when the belt was tightened. I felt his gaze on me before I looked up.

‘Do I look alright?’ I asked, self-consciously crossing my arms.

‘You’ll do.’ he said and lightly put his arm around me to walk me to the door.

The corridor beyond was colder than I was expecting given how warm it looked outside, but as there were no windows in what was nothing more than a large stone passageway, I supposed that it was only to be expected that it was a few degrees cooler. Noticing my flinch at the temperature change, Richard moved me from the stone floor to the rough carpeted area that ran down the middle of the passage. It helped a little; my feet were less cold anyway. He pulled me closer to him as we started the walk. I wasn’t paying attention to where we were going again and just let him lead me to wherever the planned destination was.

It wasn’t long before I could feel the anxiety building in me. My safe place was somewhere behind us and I couldn’t remember the way back, making my anxiety turn to panic. I was still walking, but wasn’t much further away from bolting back the way we had come and opening every door until I found the right room, when Richard stopped me.

‘What’s wrong?’ he said softly, leaning down to speak in my ear.

‘I…I don’t think I can do it. Go out. Today. I can’t’ I said, my heart beating so wildly I wasn’t surprised that he realised something was wrong. |

‘You’ll be fine…’

‘No, no I won’t. I’m just going to go back to my room. _Your_ room. I’ll just stay there…’ I said, backing off, but he put a hand on each of my shoulders and halted me before I could go anywhere.

‘Take a deep breath.’ He said calmly and waited until I’d taken a few shaky breaths in and out. ‘What do you think is going to happen?’

‘I…haven’t really been thinking. I just don’t feel safe out of your room.’

‘Well, I want you to think about what I’m going to tell you. There has been no sign of any warlocks in the area, we have been checking everything on an hourly basis to make sure we will not be taken by surprise. You will have a guard of some of our more experienced, loyal friends that will be there solely for your protection. We’ll be as quick as you want, but this is a relatively easy mission, there is no need to worry.’ He said evenly. I looked at him, feeling like a deer caught in the headlights, his eyes trying to take in every uncomfortable move I made.

‘I don’t think I’m ready…’ I whispered.

‘This is the best time to do it. Engage you brain Rosebud! The sooner this is done the less chance we have of you being found. We wait any longer and you are going to be living in my clothes for the foreseeable future. We go now.’ He said, somehow managing to look stern and concerned at the same time.

I drew in another one of those deep breaths he had me doing earlier. What he said did make sense; this might well be the safest time to go. But my addled brain wasn’t taking it in as quickly as he’d hoped.

‘I’ll stay with you. So will Aidan and Dean. You trust them, don’t you?’ he said when I made no attempt to reply.

‘Yes.’ I said thoughtfully, and then sighed angrily. ‘You are right Richard. I’m not denying that. Just…just be aware that I’m not always going to react sensibly at the moment. I didn’t realise how much I was relying on _where_ I feel safe.’

‘Try to concentrate on who you feel safe with. I promise you will be in and out of there before you can think about it. No trouble.’

‘Ok.’ I smiled at him, or at least I tried to smile at him, I had a feeling it looked a bit strained. He squeezed my shoulders before putting his arm back around me and carrying on.

‘A couple more people arrived last night that I would like you to meet. They are both coming with us as part of your guard along with Aidan, Dean. I’m sure you heard him speaking when they all gathered in my room, a man called Graham will be there too. It took me a while to get them to understand why I’ve as good as declared war on the warlocks, but I’m sure once they meet you they’ll come around.’ He continued as though nothing had happened.

‘You’re placing a lot of good faith on how likeable I am.’ I said sceptically.

‘You _are_ very likeable.’

‘That’s your opinion.’

‘I’m always right.’ He winked. I rolled my eyes.

When he was in a good mood there was nobody I’d rather be with. I didn’t know if it was a blood related thing, since I knew about that now I had to consider it. It was just the sudden mood changes that confused everything. I never knew what was coming next.

‘Just through here.’ he said, angling me towards a new door. ‘Take a nice deep breath. That’s it. There is no one here to worry about. Are you ready?’ he asked in a hushed voice. I shook my head but said

‘Yes.’

I thought I caught a short murmur of laughter from him, but the door was pushed open and he led me inside before I could think more on it. We entered another big room. Very big. Totally ginormous. High ceilings, long windows, decorated in a delicate yellow. I instantly fell in love with it and didn’t notice the small crowd of people watching me until I heard Richard cough. I started and brought myself back to concentrating again, to find a tall, grey haired man standing a few feet in front of me. He was older than any of the others in more than the human years that his body looked. I didn’t know how I knew, but I felt something about him. It was fascinating and frightening at the same time. He was looking at me more intensely than I had ever known before and I immediately wanted Richard. I reached, trying to find his hand, but was greeted by air as I found he had stepped slightly further away from me than I’d thought.

My brain, working at a steadier pace than normal, was still thinking about how alone I was with Richard one pace further away, when the new man captured both of my hands and held them both between his. I jumped and tried to pull them away, but heat started to collect in my hands. A burning heat that made my hands buzz, a feeling that I had always associated with magic. It was an odd feeling, but not a bad one, I felt completely calm. My energy, my concentration, my entire being was focused on where my hands were enclosed in his.

Finally he let go in one sudden swift movement. I staggered, not noticing how I was relying on whatever was happening with my hands to help me balance, and was caught as I fell forwards by a fast moving Richard.

‘I….What were you doing?’ I asked breathily, staring at my hands, which were now feeling very cold.

‘I may not be a warlock young lady, but when you’ve been around as long as I have you learn things.’ The man said. I looked at him, still not understanding what had happened. Vampires seemed very good at avoiding answering questions.

‘This is Ian.’ Richard said quietly once he’d made sure I was balanced on my feet. ‘He’s one of the first born, which means he is about as powerful and as knowledgeable as we can get. He’s here to help.’

‘What did you do with my hands?’ I asked in a hushed voice.

‘What did you feel?’ he countered

‘Magic.’ I said, worried that it was going to be the wrong answer but he didn’t seem bothered by it.

‘And you’re a descendant of the De’Rosa family?’

‘Yes.’ I said. He nodded and looked up at Richard, then at the room at large.

‘She’s got quite a kick of magic hidden away in there. No wonder Charles hid her away, she’s valuable.’

I frowned at him now. I didn’t understand what he meant, why would _I_ have magic?

‘Don’t ask.’ Richard whispered in my ear, obviously still able to read me like an open book. ‘You’ll find out later.’

‘If you don’t mind I’d like to get going or it’ll be dark again by the time we leave the fucking house.’ Another man I didn’t know said. I stared at him; out of all of them he looked least like a stereotypical vampire. For one thing he was wearing a knitted jumper.

‘Martin, this is a castle, not a house.’ Aidan said to him.

‘Who the fuck asked you, Turner?’ Martin snapped back.

‘Let’s go guys, before Martin implodes.’

 

I was ushered into the back of another car between Aidan and Dean with Richard getting into the driver’s seat. The windows were tinted so anyone outside of the car couldn’t see in. Martin and Ian were taking a separate car and Graham, who I had met briefly on the way outside, was taking a motor bike. Richard had returned to being quiet as Aidan and Dean chatted away.

‘Ben will be here next week, you’ll like Ben.’ Aidan said as Richard pulled out of the drive and onto a country road. I’d never been to this part of Scotland before and had no idea where we were going. I wasn’t told either, I suspected they wanted to keep me out of the loop with that one.

‘Who’s Ben?’ I asked

‘Well, he’s a vampire…’ Dean began

‘I could have guessed that. Why would I like him? Do I know him?’ I clarified.

‘You won’t know him. He’s a nice man, good friends with Martin. He’s in the US at the moment.’ Richard piped up from the front.

‘Is he coming back because of me?’

‘He’s a smart guy, Rosa; he’ll be able to help.’ Aidan said in a placating voice.

‘But how? I don’t really understand anything that is happening; do we have a plan at all?’

‘Well, we…’

‘No, boys, that’s enough now. Change the subject.’ Richard interrupted darkly. I couldn’t see his face but I knew the frown was back.

‘We were not…’ Aidan started, but Richard was having none of it.

‘Enough.’ He snapped. Silence fell. I looked from Aidan to Dean, both of whom shrugged.

Not many words were said for the rest of the journey. I still didn’t know where we were, I hadn’t spotted any helpful signs to give me a clue. I didn’t ask. I suspected Richard might not have stopped frowning yet and I didn’t want my head bitten off if it was the wrong time to ask that question.

Once we were parked Dean was sent to collect a pay and display ticket, which made me laugh to myself. A vampire paying parking charges, I can’t be the only one that finds that funny?

Martin and Ian joined us before Dean was back with the ticket. Apparently Graham had gone ahead to double check the area. I climbed out of the car gingerly, hoping that there was nothing sharp on the ground to hurt my bare feet. Richard noticed and helped me out, letting me lean on his arm as he guided me from the car.

‘Shoes?’ he asked.

 

It was as uneventful as Richard had said it would be; not a sign of a single warlock. I gradually began to let go of my panic and let the group of them take care of looking after me. Unfortunately ‘looking after me’ also seemed to include fashion advice. I was forced into getting a pair of slippers by Ian when Richard told him that my feet were cold on the stone floor. I said I’d just wear normal shoes indoors but apparently that wasn’t good enough.

Martin turned out to be very useful and found some good clothes. He also found quite a nice jacket for himself. They decided that it was easier if I didn’t try anything on but bought more than I needed so that if something didn’t fit I’d still be fine for things to wear. They would send someone else back at a later date if it needed to be changed. I’d got past the point of arguing and just went with it.

I was feeling tired by the time we were reaching the end. There were two shops we had yet to visit, neither of which I really wanted to make purchases from while being followed by a bunch of men. I was dwelling on this when a thought occurred to me. I grabbed Richard’s hand and yanked him a couple of feet away from the rest of them, then dragged his head down so I could whisper in his ear.

‘Richard, what happens…is it…I…umm…are you guys ok with…errr…monthly cycles?’ I asked awkwardly, pointing at my stomach for extra effect.

‘We are absolutely fine. If we were not completely in control of ourselves you would have no blood left by now.’ He said confidently. I breathed a sigh of relief.

‘Good. But I do need to stock up on a few things.’ I said and was greeted by an unconcerned look.

‘Lead the way.’

‘Do you mind if we…maybe go and get those things without the rest of them?’ I asked cautiously. To my surprise, he smirked and shook his head.

‘I want to see how long it takes them to get uncomfortable.’ He said happily.

With that he marched me off into the pharmacy, followed by the rest of my guard. It took me a couple of moments to get my bearings and head to the right isle, but by the time we had reached our desired destination only Richard and Ian were still walking with me. Richard was plainly trying to repress a smile.

We had picked up a basket on the way in and I piled a few boxes of necessities into them. I felt a hand reach into the basket and pull out a box of tampons. I looked up to find Ian interestedly studying the box. My eyebrows shot up and I looked at Richard who had a hand covering his mouth to try and mask the enormous grin on his face.

‘So, do they…’ Ian began, but I cut him off, mortified.

‘No way, no, no, no way are we going to have this conversation.’ I hissed, grabbing the box back off of him and throwing it back in the basket.

‘Well, we didn’t have these things when I was human.’ Ian shrugged.

‘You don’t exactly need to know about them now do you?’ I said under my breath.

‘No, but it doesn’t mean I can’t be interested.’

‘I think you’re doing fine not knowing.’ I muttered. I could hear Richard badly containing laughter from somewhere behind me. Could he really not see how embarrassing this was?

I grabbed a couple of bottles of shampoo and conditioner that was on offer then found some painkillers to shove in the basket. I looked up at Richard to indicate that I was done to find him and the rest of the boys gathered round Ian, who had found another box tampons, and were quietly discussing. I approached with a sinking feeling in my stomach. This wasn’t the type of thing I was used to talking about and I really didn’t want to start now.

‘Do you think you could stick two up your nose when you have a cold?’ Aidan asked ‘It would absorb everything, wouldn’t it?’

‘Well, it says “no leakages” on here.’ Ian said, indicating something on the box.

‘Do you think we should buy some now, or wait until one of us catches cold?’ Dean asked.

‘Put them back! People are staring!’ I whisper shouted, not sure if anyone was staring, but I hoped it might get them back on track so we could leave.

‘We were just looking! They might be useful!’ Aidan exclaimed.

‘They will be useful, just not for you to stick up your nose! Do you guys even get colds?’ I asked quietly.

‘We do.’ Richard replied, leading me away from the rest of them and towards the check outs. ‘We don’t get them very often but they are worse than normal human colds when we get them.’

‘You mean you all get man flu?’ I asked jokingly. He rolled his eyes.

‘No, it’s much worse.’ He said, pulling out some money.

‘Hmmm.’

We gathered in the street after paying and I began to slowly lead them to the final shop. I’d spotted it down a side street earlier, but had to think about how I was going to try to explain to them why I didn’t want a heard of men following me round a lingerie shop. There had been underwear in the other shops we had been in, but I had a reasonably particular taste in bras. I stopped a few shops down and tried to work out the best way to tell them to bog off.

‘Where next?’ Graham asked. I pointed to the shop front. They all went quiet.

‘I’m not going in there.’ Martin said.

‘Neither am I.’ Graham followed. Great, two down.

‘I think It’d be better to only go in with one of you.’ I said seriously.

‘I’ll go.’ Ian said languidly, not a care in the world.

‘No way. Not after that stunt you pulled in the pharmacy earlier. And it would look weird; you’re too…ummm mature.’ I said, knowing I was digging a hole for myself the longer I was talking.

‘If you’re looking for a fake boyfriend then you’d better take Aidan.’ Ian said, not looking too ruffled about the fact I’d nearly called him old.

‘I don’t mind.’ Aidan said, not looking phased at all.

‘That’s settled then. We’ll keep watch outside.’ Graham said, plainly pleased that he wasn’t being roped in to accompanying me.

As most of them turned to find somewhere to keep watch I looked up at Richard. He was scowling again; he didn’t say anything but handed Aidan a credit card.

‘Come on Rosa, off we go.’ Aidan said. I kept my eyes on Richard a second longer then went side by side with Aidan. ‘So, how boyfriend-y do I have to be?’ he asked when we were a few paces away.

‘I think given where we’re going…pretty seriously boyfriend-y?’ I said, not really knowing what I was doing and hoping we’d muddle through this.

‘Alright.’ He said, stepping closer and sliding an arm around my waist. I could feel Richard’s eyes on us as I pushed open the door, but tried to ignore it. There was nothing I could do now. I did a quick survey of the downstairs of the shop and worked out that what I wanted was going to be upstairs. I pointed to the stairs so Aidan knew where we were going. Once upstairs we were out of the view of the lady behind the desk and I felt happier to browse.

‘What are you looking for?’ he asked. He was standing very close, a hand at the small of my back. He was playing the part well; I suppose you don’t know if someone was lurking behind one of the stands.

‘I was looking for this brand.’ I said, reaching out to look for my size.

‘Holy fuck, Rosa, have you seen how much these cost? How many do you need?’ Aidan said sounding shocked.

‘These aren’t even the most expensive ones, they’re mid-range. I’m not going to buy the cheap ones, my boobs like some comfort.’ I said, finding the right size in a nice red colour, to match Richard’s room. Not that I was thinking about that, of course. ‘I’ll get two more. That’s only three. Then some undies. Then I need to try them on…’

‘Try them on?’ he interrupted.

‘You _always_ try on bras before you buy them.’ I explained.

‘Really?’

‘Well, I do. Tip for life for you there Aidan.’ I said, picking out another one.

‘I don’t think I’ll be using that tip.’ He muttered.

It didn’t take me long to find everything I was after and headed towards a large curtained off box that had been done up as a changing room. I abandoned everything onto the chair in the corner so that I could close the curtain without dropping them on the floor, but I turned round to find Aidan had followed me into the cubicle.

‘What are you doing? Get out.’ I whispered.

‘I’m supposed to be keeping an eye on you.’ He said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

‘I’ll only be behind a thin curtain. Wait outside.’ I argued.

‘I’m not going anywhere. Richard is going to have a fit that I’m letting you try this stuff on; I’m not going _anywhere_.’ He reiterated looking so determined that the thought of arguing over this was just too tiring.

‘Face the curtain and _do not_ turn around until I say you can.’ I said sternly. He gave me a triumphant smile and turned to look at the curtain.

I pulled Richard’s t shirt over my head and began trying on the merchandise. I was trying to go pretty quickly, thinking the longer I took the more likely he was going to turn around.

‘How much longer are you going to take?’ he asked impatiently after a few minutes.

‘Keep your hair on, I’m nearly done.’ I said, unfastening the last one and reaching for the shirt. By the time I’d got my head through the appropriate hole I found Aidan was looking at me.

‘When did I tell you that you could turn back around?’ I accused, putting my hands on my hips.

‘I could hear you putting that back on.’ He said, gesturing to the top ‘and I don’t know why you’re so paranoid anyway, that shirt doesn’t hide anything.’

‘You’re not being a very good fake boyfriend; I don’t think I’ll bother next time.’ I said jokily.

‘I’ll make more of an effort downstairs.’ He promised, winking in good humour.


	11. Chapter 11

On reaching the downstairs of the shop I was hopeful that Aidan was going to be true to his word and behave himself. He had adopted a more serious countenance and hadn’t made any more inappropriate moves or comments. Although, let’s face it, the journey from upstairs to downstairs wasn’t very far and he didn’t really have the time to disgrace himself.

I put the items down on the counter and smiled slightly at the woman behind it. She looked at me through her thick rimmed glasses, and then glanced at Aidan before starting to scan in the bar-codes.

‘I messed up with the washing machine.’ Aidan suddenly blurted out. The woman stopped what she was doing and raised her eyebrows at him, which seemed to fluster him even more as he continued ‘We’re up here on holiday and I pressed the wrong buttons.’

Seeing that this could only get worse if Aidan carried on talking I decided I had better intervene. So I slipped an arm round his back under his jacket and placed another on his chest in the hope of distracting him enough to stop talking. It seemed to work as he stared down at me, apparently forgetting the woman in front of us and the mess he was making when he opened his mouth.

‘You didn’t mean to sweetie, at least you tried.’ I said silkily angling my face up to him affectionately. He responded by leaning down and planting a soft kiss on my lips. I wasn’t expecting it, but at least he was acting the part and not making himself look like a fool, not that it wasn’t embarrassing. I was fairly sure I could feel Richard’s eyes on us through the large shop front window.

‘Still, it’s an excuse to buy something new.’ I said, patting his stomach.

‘Yeah, that _I’m_ paying for.’ He said, now really getting into his stride ‘I hope I’m going to get to see it in action.’ That comment earned him a dig in the ribs.

‘If you want to see something in action, maybe you should buy me something that was built for purpose.’ I said, nodding to the range the range of items behind the counter under the heading “nightwear”.

‘I don’t think I want to know how much that’s going to cost me.’ he muttered, eyeing a Basque that was set up on a plastic model. The woman behind the counter, who had gone back to scanning through the items at some point during our conversation, looked up to see where his gaze was fixed

‘That one’s £169.’ She said helpfully. Aidan’s eyes widened, he blinked slowly a couple of times then looked at the woman, then at me and said

‘I think I’ve spent enough money on you today.’

‘Oh, but honey, it would be for you to enjoy too.’ I said, baiting him. The changing expressions on his face as he thought it through were hilarious, but finally he frowned and told me sternly

‘No, we’ll have to make do.’ he put his arm firmly round my waist and pulled me closer to him so he could kiss my forehead. ‘I prefer you with no clothes on anyway.’ He said, in a voice that sounded like it was just for my ears, but I knew it was just loud enough for the other lady to hear. There was no reason for it to be aimed at only me, as far as I was aware he hadn’t seen me without clothes on. A cough from the other side of the counter brought us back to the real world.

‘Would you like a bag?’

 

Aidan still had his arm around me when we exited the shop and walked away from the view of the window. Once out of sight we were gradually joined by the others and began to make our way back to the car park in silence. The atmosphere had changed and I realised, when we reached the car, that it was because Richard was tense. The boot was unlocked and we piled the bags into it unceremoniously. As the silence stretched I began to wonder whether something had happened and a warlock had been sighted, so I wormed my way through everyone else to stand in front of Richard, who had ever so slightly distanced himself from the group.

‘Is everything alright?’ I asked, looking up to find a frowning face. My heart started to race, perhaps something _was_ wrong. Were we in danger? My heart began to pound and I felt the shakes coming on again. His face changed then, sensing my building distress, his eyes softened and he took my forearm.

‘We haven’t seen any Warlocks. We’re about to go home, do you want to get in the car?’ he asked, opening the door for me. I was about to get in when I heard a chorus of stifled laughter from behind us and I turned to find all of the boys, other than Richard, surrounding Aidan, their faces plastered with smiles.

‘What?’ Richard asked coolly.

‘This boy only followed her into the changing room.’ Graham said cheerfully.

Richard whirled on me and gave me a look as if to ask “is this true”. I nodded and shrugged. His face looked thunderous but he silently helped me into the car.

‘Aidan, Dean, get in.’ he snapped as he went round to the driver’s door. They did as they were told without question but before the doors were slammed shut I heard Graham say

‘He’s got bloody big balls on him; that I’ll say.’

 

The car ride was excruciating. Richard’s mood seeped into every corner of the car. I was afraid to say a word and it seemed the same went for Aidan and Dean. God, what was he thinking telling everyone that? As I had time to mull things over I came to the conclusion that Richard’s tenseness when we had come out of the shop was due to Aidan and my proximity to him. This blood connection we had must have given him a sense of ownership over me that I wasn’t sure I appreciated.

Upon reaching Kinghtswood and getting out of the cars everyone began to split up. Richard came up behind me and told me to go up to his room. So I marched off up the steps, through the front doors and began walking down a corridor before I realised I had no idea where I was going. I wandered deftly for about ten minutes before I decided to go back and try to find someone to show me the way.

The problem was that, what with it being such a big building, I couldn’t remember the way I had come. I cursed myself for being so stupid and stood still to try and clear my head. After a few minutes I turned on my heel and headed off in the direction I thought I’d come from, but ended up leading me to a completely different part of the place, up some stairs, down some more. I couldn’t even find a window to check my bearings. I shuffled along mindlessly, not wanting to look in any of the rooms in case they were out of bounds to me. I came to a halt as I reached a fork. I wanted to bash my head against the wall.

Just as I was about to curl up on the floor and mope at my misfortune, I heard voices. My spirits lifted, I recognised that voice. It was Richard. I took the right fork, heading towards the room the voices were coming from at a fast walk, when I heard the person who Richard was talking to; Aidan. Although I couldn’t work out what they were saying at that point, he didn’t sound very happy. Neither did Richard. I kept walking, albeit a bit more cautiously until I heard my name and came to a halt.

‘Rosa told me I needed to play that part, so I did!’ Aidan’s voice said

‘That does not explain why you went into the changing room with her. Or, in fact, why you let her try things on! You knew we were in a hurry!’ Richard retorted.

‘You’ll have to talk to her about that. But I went in with her to make sure she was safe.’

‘Bullshit. I saw you kiss her; you were enjoying yourself in there. I don’t want you going near her anymore. ’

‘Christ, Richard, why don’t you just fuck her and get this obsession out of your system!’

‘Don’t you dare talk to me like that!’ Richard shouted and I heard something smash against a wall.

‘No! It’s getting dangerous. If I stay away from her you’ll only start on someone else, you won’t let anyone get closer to her than you are and that’s a complete joke. She looks at you like she’s confused and yet _all_ of this mess she’s in is down to you and the fact you want her as a permanent fixture in your bed!’ Aidan persisted. There was a lot of movement in the room now and I heard something else come to its demise from hitting a wall.

‘She was put in this _mess,_ as you call it, because of her father.’ Richard growled

‘She was in a different mess when she was with the warlocks. Ok, so she’d have been forced…’

‘Don’t. Don’t even mention what was going to happen to her.’

‘But the warlock’s could annihilate us. We are in a massive amount of danger and you’re compromised!’

‘I am not compromised.’

‘You’re thinking with your…’

‘You’re such a child! You think everything is related to sex!’

‘Only because this time it is!’

‘Let us get this straight. You are to keep away from her.’ Richard started, but I heard Aidan mutter something incomprehensible to me, but Richard responded to it loud enough for me to hear. ‘If I have to protect her myself, I will do.’

I heard purposeful footsteps, thinking they were making for the door I shrunk next to the wall, stupidly hoping that the shadows would conceal me. But the footsteps didn’t come closer.

‘Carry on like this and we’ll all end up dead.’ Aidan said firmly and I heard a door slam. There must have been another way out of the room as the door beside me didn’t budge. I heard Richard give an almighty roar from behind it and something else hit the deck with renewed force. I didn’t know what to do. I most certainly wasn’t going to go into the room. I generally considered myself to be quite brave, but walking into a room that contained an angry vampire was nothing short of foolish. But I still didn’t know where I was or how to get back to somewhere I knew and without help I wasn’t going to find that out. So there I was standing, weighing up whether I should start walking or risk knocking on the door, when the door opened and out stepped a still fuming Richard.

Normally he was tall. He was a big guy and had a good posture; the top of my head barely reached his shoulder. But now, enraged, his body poised to fight with muscles flexed, he looked like a giant.

I took a hasty step back, tripped over was I could only assume was my own feet, and slid backwards down the wall. The movement evidently caught his attention as he turned to me, sprawled on the floor, and, unsurprisingly, frowned. I was getting more than a little fed up with the frown, it had to be said.

‘What are you doing here?’ he asked sharply.

‘I got lost. I couldn’t remember the way to my….your room.’ I said, pushing up into a slumped sitting position.

‘What are you doing _here_?’ he said again, putting strong emphasis on the last word. His voice was still angry, his body still taut and his tone accusatory. I felt a very small flame of annoyance flicker to life within me. He thought I was deliberately eavesdropping.

‘I was trying to find my way back to somewhere I knew when I heard your voice. I thought you might be kind enough to show me the way, but I heard you arguing and didn’t want to walk in on that!’

‘How much did you hear?’ he held out a hand to help me to my feet, but I didn’t take it and struggled up by myself.

‘Enough.’ I replied as I brushed a dead spider off of my leg.

‘Don’t you know it’s rude to listen at peoples doors?’

‘I didn’t want to hear! I didn’t know what to do!’ I exclaimed at my defence.

‘You had no right to hear any of that.’ He continued.

‘You were talking about me; I should think I’d have _some_ right…’

‘It did not concern you Rosa!’ he shouted. I paused and blinked at him. Not because he was shouting, given his mood I would expect no less. But because he’s used my proper name; the first time he’d done so since I’d arrived at Knightswood.

‘You are making both of our lives difficult by talking to _your_ people like you spoke to Aidan.’ I hissed.

‘That’s none of your business. You are to stay away from him…’

‘For God’s sake Richard, get a grip!’

‘Me get a grip? You’re the one trying to get a grip on Aidan!’ he bellowed. My mouth fell open, any hope of immediate retort dying in my throat. I understood that he would think Aidan was interested in me, what hadn’t occurred to me was that he thought it was reciprocated.

‘I like Aidan. I like Dean too. And Adam, and Martin and Ian.’ I said quietly. ‘In fact, I quite like everyone I’ve met here. But, when you’re not angry with me, I like you more than any of them!’ I felt something tickle my cheek and lifted my hand to find that tears were unconsciously making their way from my eyes down my face.

‘Oh, stupid fucking eyes leaking.’ I wildly wiped the tears away, not really concentrating on anything, when I felt a presence approaching me. My head jerked up to find Richard was moving towards me, his face devoid of the frown at last, with arms wide. I flinched and smacked his hands away.

‘No! Don’t you fucking dare touch me! You know what happened to me, it was only _days_ ago. You saw it! What did you think I was going to do, jump straight into bed with the first man that seemed interested? I trusted you; I trusted that you’d understand. Apparently I was wrong.’ I shrieked, batting away his hands a second time as he attempted to draw me closer to him.

‘Rosa…’ he started

‘Shut up. I don’t want to hear it. Leave me alone.’ I snapped, turning round and walking swiftly away from him. He didn’t follow, but I heard him re-enter the room he’d been in earlier and could make out the sounds of more things smashing for quite some distance.

I was fuming. I hadn’t ever really argued with anyone like that before. I couldn’t ever remember being that actively enraged. I wanted to hit something, break something, shout some more, anything to relieve the build up inside me. It felt like it was about to overflow, the tears were coming more freely now as I strode down the corridors. I wasn’t thinking again, I just knew I had to keep walking. I felt like I was being pulled along, like something was guiding me. I began replaying the argument in my head, thinking of all the things that I should have said to him.

Trancelike, I opened a door and walked purposefully over the threshold, slamming the door behind me. The sound of the door alerted me to my lack of attention and brought me back to the present. And at the present I was in Richard’s room. Strange. That had never happened before. My thoughts didn’t linger on that subject for long, they moved back to the owner of the room with refreshed vigour. I closed my eyes, balled my fists and fiercely growled to myself, trying to let out some of my temper without breaking anything. All around me I heard the sound of fire. It was only brief, a second or more, but very distinct all the same. I opened my eyes.

‘Oh. My. God.’ I whispered, not caring that there wasn’t anyone to hear me. This room had no electric lights and was lit by long tapering candles. There were, therefore, many candles dotted about the room ready for when they were needed, which none of them were at that moment what with the daylight streaming though the window. But every one of them was now lit, strong flames burning around the room. Even the fire in the grate was flickering merrily, which it certainly wasn’t when I walked in.

I grabbed the door handle, yanked it open and my face collided with a solid chest. I jumped backwards again and raised my head to see who I had bumped into, expecting to find Richard.

Instead, I found myself gaping at a man I didn’t recognise.

 


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's later than I said it was going to be, but I've finally managed to put together another chapter. I don’t have an awful lot of time to write at the moment so thank you for being patient with me!

I gazed up at this new face like a deer caught in the headlights, but didn’t take any of his features in except his eyes. They were staring back at me so intensely that I felt like a hole was being burned through my skin; as though he was examining my very soul. They were hypnotising, terrifying and oddly exciting. All of those things and I was still glued to the spot with my mouth open.

‘Hello.’ He said. I blinked a few times to refocus my eyes and take in the rest of his features from his dark hair to his high cheekbones. He was smiling, like he had sized me up and found me entertaining. Hard to explain as I hadn’t done anything.

‘Hi.’ I said sheepishly. I didn’t know who he was or where he’d come from. The only thing I was certain of was that he was a vampire and not a warlock. Which, while it still made him dangerous it meant that his motives towards me were a little less convoluted.

‘Ben! There you are!’ Martin’s voice said. I dragged my eyes away to find Martin and Ian closing in. I looked back to the new man

‘You’re Ben?’ I asked

‘Benedict. Or Ben. Yes.’ He replied.

‘I didn’t think you were getting here until next week.’ I asked, remembering what Aidan and Dean had been saying in the car.

‘I managed to get an early flight and didn’t have a chance to check in. Anyway, I like to maintain an element of surprise.’

‘Fucking surprises mate, you look like you’ve scared her to death.’ Martin said giving Benedict a look that said “why the fuck didn’t you call me?”

‘She looked like that before she saw me. She walked straight into me.’

‘And nearly broke my nose! Your chest is hard and you were standing _way_ to close to the door.’ I said.

‘I wasn’t standing that close; you came out of that door like a bat out of hell.’ He argued.

As we were talking Ian wandered to the door behind me and peeked through it. I couldn’t see him properly, but from the humming noises he was making it sounded like he was taking the in the lit candles with interest. Without warning he reached out and grabbed my hand. It was like the time before when he had taken my hands; I felt magic gravitate towards his touch and down into the one hand that he held. But after a day of shopping, arguing and unusual happenings I was tired and had no energy to cope with a rush of magic. My knees buckled and I fell towards Ian. Three pairs of hands steadied me before I hit him and helped me back to being vertical.

‘I swear to God I have fallen over more times since I met your damn species than I have in my entire life.’ I muttered hanging on to Benedict’s arm as my knees wobbled dangerously.

‘I’m calling a meeting; I think we need to get everything out in the open. I’m going to get some things, Ben, take her to the yellow room. Martin, go and get her a coffee. I don’t want her falling asleep.’ Ian delegated, taking control of the situation. They all nodded at each other and parted, leaving me alone with a perfect stranger.

‘So, you’re the one that Richard has got the whole vampire population up in arms.’ He said casually as he led me along, allowing me to lean on his arm so I didn’t fall again.

‘I didn’t mean to.’ I said quietly, my mind turning to how hopeless this situation was turning out to be.

‘He’s got a plan.’ Benedict said. I stared up at him. Much like Richard he’d managed to read my face with disconcerting accuracy.

‘Who?’ I asked.

‘Ian.’ I frowned at him, wondering why I hadn’t heard about this before.

‘How long has he had this plan?’

‘All along I suspect.’

‘Then why doesn’t Richard think we have a plan?’ I questioned, confused at how nobody I had previously spoken to seemed to know what the hell was happening.

‘From what I’ve heard Richard is very volatile at the moment. Ian will have wanted to meet you to make sure you’re up to the job before giving the plans to Richard. He would have stormed straight into any plan without a second thought which is not what is needed just now.’

‘I’m going to be honest with you here Ben, the only thing I really understood about what you just said was the bit about Richard being volatile. I think he might have destroyed some very expensive items earlier on today.’

‘Yes, I heard Ken muttering about it as he let me in. Apparently Dean and Graham had to restrain him from breaking anything else.’

‘Oh God.’ I groaned.

‘I’m guessing his rage has something to do with you?’

‘I wish I could say no. Are all men pig headed, or is it just the ones I know?’ I asked facetiously.

‘I would say Richard is one of the least pig headed people I know actually.’ He replied thoughtfully ‘He’s strong minded and strong in a physical sense. A great leader, has a good mind, not as good as mine of course, but still capable. And kind. He’s only gone off the rails recently, which has got to be something to do with you.’

‘I don’t think I can be held accountable for his horrendously changeable moods.’

‘But you are the crux of the matter.’

‘That wasn’t my decision though. I would quite like not to be me right now but I don’t get that choice.’

‘You’re being overdramatic.’

‘It’s the truth. Overdramatic or not.’ I said just as we reached our destination. I was plonked down in an old but cared for armchair.

Nobody else had arrived yet so I was still alone with a now silent, still new person.

‘What’s your surname?’ I asked, thinking that was a safe choice of question. He’d probably have changed it from his original given name; I couldn’t believe that somebody that lived through several human lives would keep the same name.

‘Cumber- ‘ he started, but the door banged open before he could finish.

‘Fucking hell, was that it? The guy was going mental, Graham was struggling. _Graham._ And that was all it was about?’ Dean was saying to Aidan. It didn’t take a lot to guess what they were talking about. But neither of them seemed to know about the conversation I had had with Richard after Aidan had left. It sounded like Aidan thought that he was the only cause of Richard’s explosive behaviour.

‘Yeah, I don’t know. He needs to…oh hi Rosa.’ Aidan said, noticing me sitting quietly. ‘Do you know what this meeting is about?’

‘I think Ian has a plan but…’ I said trailing off and turning round to find Ben who was looking out of the window ‘I’m not really sure.’

‘Ian has a plan? Cool.’ Aidan said, slumping down onto a sofa shortly followed by Dean. They both looked relaxed and unaffected by the revelation that somebody actually knew what we were doing.

Everybody else filed in shortly after that. There were more of them than I had initially thought; all different shapes and sizes, all different accents and ages. I stared at every one of them as they came in, trying to work out which part they played in this well-oiled machine of a vampire colony. Richard finally came in following Graham; his face blank and expressionless, not giving me a single glance. I shouldn’t have expected it, or even hoped. But I did, stupidly; I wished he would acknowledge me. It was then that I began to understand that while I was indescribably angry at him I didn’t want to lose him either.

Ian arrived last, just as Martin was handing me my coffee, carrying a giant book that looked like it had been stored and forgotten about. It still seemed to have some cobwebs clinging desperately to the thick, leather bound cover. I took a gulp of hot liquid and hoped that the caffeine would help get me through this without missing anything. I was already intrigued.

‘If everyone is here I would like to get started.’ Ian said, taking a seat in a wingback chair at the head of the room. ‘You should all know by now that we have found ourselves in a bit of a situation. It has been known to us for a while that the Warlocks are now starting the first steps on the road to an uprising. You know that, at one point or another, their attacks will be aimed at us. What the majority of you don’t know is why.’

He paused then, I assumed for effect as nobody was likely to ask questions when Ian plainly had his speech planned. I sipped at my coffee and leaned back in my chair. This was going to take a while.

‘This story involves a fair amount of history, but you won’t understand its significance until you’ve heard it. You will also notice we have a guest.’ He waved his hand towards me and I felt keen eyes flicker to me and stay there ‘Most of you will have been thinking that she’s the cause of all of this, but she is going to turn this round for us.’

I blanched at this statement. I didn’t think I liked where this was going.

‘Quite a long time ago, as one or two of you may remember, vampires, wizards and witches used to live together cohesively. We were integrated and worked together for the greater good. We needed each other. Their magic helped us become stronger and the drinking of our blood prolonged their life. It was our most prosperous time. The more powerful witches gave us opportunities for betterment so that we, in our small way, have our own magic.

‘In the 1100’s a small fraction of the wizards starting objecting to the witches using their magic so freely and powerfully; they wanted some sort of restraint on them. Over time the fraction grew larger until they overthrew the council…’

‘There was a council?’ I interrupted suddenly, almost against my will. I felt my face go red as every pair of eyes stared at me; every pair except one, who was obstinately looking the other way.

‘Surely you of all people should know about the inner workings of your kind.’ A hostile voice piped up from somewhere near the door.

‘I have only ever been to one gathering which was a few days ago, forgive me if I was a little distracted.’ I responded coolly.

‘You said she was going to be of use to us, she doesn’t know anything that will help.’ Another voice said as a wave of muttering passed through the room.

‘For goodness sake, I haven’t even finished my story yet and you’re arguing.’ Ian grumpily interjected. All noises stopped immediately. He let out a satisfied noise before turning his head in my direction ‘yes, there was, and still is, a council. Today’s council is not what it used to be. When the wizards overthrew it, they killed or enslaved the old members and took over it themselves. The new council was less strong and considerably less wise.

‘The head of the old council was kept alive and forced to bind the witch’s magic outside of their bodies and hide it. Alden was a good friend of mine and knew that he would be killed once he was no longer useful. He, therefore, decided he would give us the ultimate advantage. He hid the bound magic in a magically fortified place and only told me where it is.

‘My intention is that we free it and give it back to our resident witch.’

Once again I felt eyes on me. I kept my gaze fixed on Ian, who was looking pleased with himself. I was fairly sure that I had not taken much of what he had said in; it was all news to me and I didn’t truly understand it.

‘How did, Aldan did you say? Yes, how did Alden communicate to you where he had hidden the magic?’ I asked.

‘Ahhh.’ Ian said, looking happily reminiscent ‘We had a…connection.’

I glanced away from him to see Aidan making a sexual hand gesture. Well I wish I hadn’t asked that question.

‘I’m not a witch. How do we know that the magic will be compatible with me?’

‘I can feel it.’ Ian said confidently. I was less than convinced.

‘With all due respect I’m not sure if I want to put all my faith in a _feeling_.’

‘It’s not an emotional feeling, it’s physical, and I can sense it. I did even more so when I was in that room.’ He gave me a meaningful look and I nodded to silently communicate my understanding. ‘Alden told me that there would be a time when it would be released. This is it. The wizards have over time lost a lot of their original power. They are only warlocks now. One single witch would floor them. We would have a significant advantage.’ He said more animatedly. The rest of the vampires in the room were stirring more now. Whispering to one another or making positive sounding noises. I was feeling massively out of my depth and to add insult to injury Richard got up and went to stare out of the window.

‘Ian, even if I can accept the magic I have no idea what to do with it. I don’t know spells or how to use it. What if I blow you all up by mistake? There could be a huge timescale issue if you’re expecting me to do anything.’

‘You’ll learn.’ He said tapping the leather covered book. ‘But for now I think you should retire to think on what you’ve heard today.’ He said this diplomatically, but I really think he wanted me out of the way so that everyone else could ask some questions he didn’t want me to hear.

‘Can I have some food?’ I asked as I stood up, putting my empty coffee mug down on a table.

‘Yes of course. I’ll sort something out.’ He smiled. ‘Richard, take her back to her room.’

I watched Richard, still looking out of the window with his back to me, take a huge intake of breath before he turned sharply on his heel and walked swiftly to the door and held it open for me, his head bent and eyes lowered. It didn’t take a genius to know that his behaviour was something that was going to be highlighted in the discussion after we left. I stalked through the open door and stopped when I reached the corridor. The door slammed and Richard took off at a fast walk leaving me to follow in his shadow. His long legs carried him along faster and more effortlessly than mine so by the time we arrived I was hot and a little out of breath. I was also massively fed up of being ignored.

He opened the door and stood aside for me to enter, but I paused.

‘Richard.’ I said quietly but firmly. It got no reaction at all. ‘Richard fucking look at me.’

‘Your language has worsened over the last couple of hours.’ He said, smirking. Not the sexy smirk he used when he was teasing me. This one was worrying; disturbing as he kept his eyes fixed away from me, deliberately defying my request.

‘I think you know the reason for that.’ I said softly. I desperately wanted us not to argue. ‘Richard, what’s happening?’

‘You heard everything that Ian said…’

‘I mean with us.’ I interrupted quickly realising that he had, deliberately or not, got hold of the wrong end of the stick. I watched his nostrils flare and the smirk disappear.

‘I don’t think there’s anything to talk about.’ he said shortly.

‘For Christ’s sake you stupid oaf, get a grip. We have a huge wall dividing us and I want some answers as to why!’ I hissed. He finally looked at me then, bringing his face close to mine threateningly.

‘There is nothing to say.’ He snarled.

‘No? Then why are you behaving like this towards me?’ I said, poking him in the chest.

‘I think you know the answer to that.’ He said, not even noticing when poked him again.

‘Fine, I’m sorry for listening at the door, no matter how unintentional it was. I am sorry that I dragged your stupid backside into a war between our races. I am sorry that I like your friends. I am sorry that I plainly mean nothing to you! I. Am. Sorry.’ I said louder than before.

‘What do you mean you mean nothing to me? Why did you think I risked my _stupid backside_ getting you out of that house? Why do you think that I am still here? Why…’ he said, matching the volume of my voice, but I cut him off.

‘Why wouldn’t you even do me the simple courtesy of looking at me?’

‘I was angry with you.’ He answered.

‘You are still angry with me.’

‘I can’t even remember why.’ He said bitterly.

‘You thought I wanted to fuck Aidan.’ I said dully. The side of his face twitched. I’d hit a nerve.

‘You were so friendly with him.’ he muttered, running his fingers through his hair.

‘He’s a nice guy.’ I said blandly, not giving anything away, waiting to see what conclusion he came to.

‘He is.’ Richard said stiffly. I had to stifle a smile at his attempt to hold himself together. He was trying.

‘So are you. Sometimes.’

‘Only sometimes?’ he asked cheekily, his face relaxing to something less stern and more amiable.

‘Don’t push your luck. You’re lucky you got a “sometimes”.’ I said, allowing a small smile to break forth.

‘Ouch.’ He said humorously. ‘Go and get as much sleep as you can Rosebud, if I know Ian like I think I do, you are going to need all the energy you can get for tomorrow.’

‘Can I have some more eggs for breakfast then?’ I said as I turned to the door. He let out a small breathy laugh

‘I’ll make sure of it.’

With that he went to walk away and I disappeared into the bedroom feeling like a weight was gently being eased from my shoulders.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What’s this? A new chapter? IT MUST BE A MIRACLE!!!! I can only apologise for how much time has passed since I updated, life and no inspiration have messed up my plans! Thank you for reading x

_Apples. Beautiful reddening apples, clustered on heavily burdened trees. Peace and quiet. I walked between them, feeling the rough bark under my fingertips as I passed. Endless rows. As far as the eye could see. But I was alone. Mercifully or dangerously. The air was sweet smelling and fresh; the sky was blue and cloudless above me. An apple dropped to the floor at my feet. I bent to pick it up, inspecting the skin to find it flawless. I bit into it to find that, instead of crisp and crunchy white flesh, it was soft as my teeth sunk into it. I tore the apple away and dropped it again. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and looked down to find blood covering the skin up to my wrists. I tried to wipe it away but only more blood appeared. I could feel it dripping from my mouth onto my bare feet._

_A twig snapped behind me and I slowly turned to find Kristof standing mere inches behind my back. His face was pale and contorted with fury, but he was not looking at me. His eyes were fixed on where I had dropped the apple._

_‘You owe me.’ he said without looking at me._

_‘I owe you what?’ I gasped back, feeling blood rolling down my throat._

_‘Yourself. Your body for what you did to my son. You are mine now.’ He said, his eyes never wavering from the point on the floor. I followed his gaze to find that my apple was no longer an apple, but the still, lifeless body of Phllipp, his eyes wide and glassy. The chunk like the one I had bitten in the apple missing from his head. I took a deep breath to ready myself for the scream I felt coming, but choked on the mouthful of blood that had collected there…_

 

I sat up in bed. Or tried to sit up as the tangle of sheets I was wrapped in made any movement difficult. My breathing was ragged and the sheets were so tight around my chest I felt trapped. I started to panic. I struggled to try to free myself but it seemed that moving only made it worse.

‘Christ, you don’t half make a fuss even when you’re asleep.’ A dull voice said from across the room. I stopped for a moment to see a rapidly approaching figure and flinched away from his advance; only succeeding in moving about an inch further away and making the sheets tighter.

‘Oh, stay still it’s only me.’ he said from somewhere above me. I recognised him then and looked up to see Benedict in the dark above me.

‘What the fuck were you doing watching me sleep?’ I asked as he managed to free me from my temporary bounds.

‘Richard had told me your language had taken a downward turn.’ He said, backing off and sitting himself down on the edge of the bed.

‘Richard can mind his own bloody business.’ I muttered miserably.

‘Hmm I think he rather likes it; being right in the middle of your life.’ He said sounding amused. He was baiting me now, I could tell.

‘Fine, _you_ mind _your_ bloody business.’ I snapped, but he just let out a snort of laughter.

‘No, too interesting.’

‘What are you doing in here?’ I asked as I resigned myself to the fact that he wasn’t going to be leaving. But it still left a bad taste in my mouth. I didn’t know whether it was the fact that he was a man or a vampire, but I definitely needed some alone time. Or some almost alone time with someone else…

‘I find it fascinating watching humans sleep.’ He said conversationally.

‘But I’m not human. Apparently.’

‘That makes you even more fascinating.’

‘How can it be fascinating? You don’t know what was going on inside my head.’

‘Why don’t you tell me?’

I thought back to the dream and the body of Philipp on the ground; the blood dripping down my chin; my hands; my throat. I was going to be sick.

I jumped out of bed with speed that surprised me, although it didn’t seem to make Benedict blink, and made a mad dash to the bathroom. I brought up the meal that Adam had brought me earlier on and coughed with my eyes squeezed shut.

‘Ben. Benedict.’ I called hoarsely, breathing through my mouth so I didn’t smell the fresh contents of the toilet I was kneeling beside.

‘What?’ he said, still sounding bored. Strange as he was supposedly here because I was so _fascinating._ Whatever. He turned on the light - why there was electricity in the bathroom and nowhere else in the place I hadn’t a clue - which was far too bright for my eyes even through the lids. I could feel a headache coming on already.

‘Please. Please check it’s not blood.’ I said, breathing through my mouth.

‘What?’ he said again, his voice confused and mildly disgusted.

‘Please look and check if I’ve thrown up blood. Please look.’ I heard movement around me but kept my eyes tight shut.

‘Looks like lasagne. No blood.’ He said.

‘Oh thank God.’ I said, opening my eyes, standing up and heading over to a bathroom cabinet and rifling through it; taking heavy breaths through my mouth all the while.

‘What are you looking for?’ Ben asked, no boredom present in his tone now.

‘Toothpaste; to take the taste away.’ I mumbled.

‘On the floor. It fell out about two seconds after you started looking.’ I found it and bent down to retrieve it, squeezing a large blob out and shoving it unceremoniously into my mouth, flushing the toilet and spitting the used toothpaste down it while the water was still swirling round the bowl.

‘So is this reaction all due to the dream you were having?’ he asked as he leant up against the doorframe.

‘Don’t make me think about it again.’ I said as I put the toilet seat back down and sat on it.

‘You seem to have a love affair with the drama of life.’

‘I’m fairly sure I’m not having a love affair with anything while throwing my guts up.’

‘See there you go again, _throwing your guts up._ Dramatic.’

‘Not dramatic. Accurate. Why are you here again?’

‘You asked me to look at your vomit.’

‘No, I mean before that. Why watch me sleep? It’s creepy.’

‘I have not had the opportunity to study magical people. I was turned after the rift began. I…’

‘Oh please, don’t say this was all in the name of “science”.’ I said airily, standing up and pushing past him to retreat to the darkness of the bedroom.

‘I am in the medical field. Out of us all I am best suited to observing you.’ He said, following me at a slower pace.

‘I don’t appreciate being observed.’ I said, flopping down onto the bed as my eyes grew more accustomed to the dark.

‘You don’t appreciate anything.’ He said under his breath, but I heard him loud and clear.

‘What the fucking fuck is that supposed to mean?’ I questioned angrily.

‘Hmm Richard was _definitely_ right about the swearing.’

‘I don’t think it was unjustified when I find a strange man in my room in the middle of the night.’

‘I helped you untangle yourself, don’t pretend I wasn’t helpful.’ He said, waggling a finger at me.

‘I would have got myself out of that.’ I huffed.

‘And I’m not a stranger, you’ve met me before.’ He continued.

‘That wasn’t the definition of the word “strange” I was referring to.’ I retorted.

‘You have no right to make that judgement. You know so little about me.’

‘And _I_ barely know _you_ yet you think you have the right to invade my personal space.’

‘I’m not even standing that close to you! How am I invading your…’

‘I have a larger perimeter than most people!’ I interrupted noisily, sitting and waving my arms stupidly.

‘You’re crazy. I’m leaving.’ He said, turning on his heel to leave. As his back faced me I suddenly realised how childish I was being.

‘Stop. I’m sorry. I’m feeling askew at the moment.’ I said. I ran my fingers through my hair.

‘Hmm remind me to tell Richard not to turn you into one of us. You would be a lot of hassle.’ He said, finding a chair close to the bed and sitting in it.

‘I don’t want to be turned into one of you, so have not fears on that.’ I said.

‘Why not?’ Benedict asked, surprise apparent in his voice.

‘I don’t want to live forever.’ I said simply.

‘Really? That makes a change. That’s normally one of the selling points.’

‘Was it one of the selling points for you?’ I asked politely. I didn’t know if this was going to be a touchy subject.

‘I wasn’t given a choice. My father was a vampire, he turned me when he thought I was old enough.’

‘Did you know he was one? While you were growing up, I mean. Did he stick around?’ I asked, waking up a little more to listen to a subject I found interesting. It was certainly nice to talk about someone other than me.

‘Oh yes. He turned my mother after I was born. I grew up surrounded by this lifestyle. I knew it was going to happen.’

‘Did that make it easier?’

‘Yes. The transition is always easier when you have a vampire in the family tree. Mr Turner’s great grandfather was a notorious Irish vampire who took absolutely no prisoners. Vile man. I was shocked when I found out they were related. Dean is related to an exiled vampire who I believe still lives in New Zealand. Martin too, though quite distantly.’

‘I have none, is that why you think I’m not suitable?’ I asked, fiddling with the duvet cover.

‘No. Not completely anyway.’

‘And the other reason is…?’

‘You’re a woman.’

‘Argh, throw that in my face why don’t you. My sex has caused me enough trouble recently I think I’d rather turn into a man than a vampire.’ I said distastefully.

‘Women get a rough deal with the transformation. Even the more mild tempered females need strong support to get through it.’

‘Are there many? I asked Richard but he didn’t tell me too much.’

‘A few.’

‘You’re very cagey on this subject. I’ll have to ask Ian.’

‘Nosey.’

‘Not nosey. Interested. This is a very strange world I’ve ended up in.’

‘Why don’t you want to be immortal?’

‘I don’t want to live to see mankind destroy this planet or each other. I find this life so frighteningly out of my hands so much of the time that I am glad that, at some point, it will be over for me.’ I said, watching him closely. He nodded slowly, thinking on what I had said. I hoped he had found something he understood.

‘Richard will want to turn you.’ He said suddenly.

‘What? Did he tell you that?’ I asked.

‘No, but it will have crossed his mind.’

‘How do you know?’ I demanded, this conversation was getting stressful.

‘It doesn’t matter.’

‘Well plainly it does or you wouldn’t have told me.’

‘If you don’t want to be turned then it does not matter; you won’t be.’

‘No, no no. I know Richard well enough to know that there may be a point where he doesn’t ask for my permission. Tell him, Ben, tell him he is not allowed to turn me into one of you.’ I said forcefully, pointing at my finger at him.

‘Believe me when I say that I will beg him not to turn you.’ He said and stood up.

‘Thank you, but you don’t have to leave.’ I said as he made for the door.

‘I didn’t mean to wake you, you should sleep.’

‘I don’t want to dream again.’ I admitted.

‘You can’t live your life not doing something because you’re afraid of what might happen if you do. It will only ever be a dream.’

 

 

I was lying on my stomach with my head buried into the gap between two pillows. It had been an hour since Benedict had left and I had failed to get back to sleep. I felt hot and then I felt cold; I felt simultaneously tired and energetic; and to top it off I was trying to desperately deviate my thoughts away from the dream I’d had before. The time awake had had me thinking it through. The specifics of the dream had been almost too real; too relevant. I wasn’t a dreamer. This wasn’t normal. _It will only ever be a dream._ What if it wasn’t a dream in the first place?

I heard the door open and close softly and cautious footsteps move around the room. I sat up suddenly, hair all over the place and tried to place where the sound of movement was coming from.

‘You’re awake?’ Richard’s voice said from the opposite direction to the one I was looking in.

‘Can’t sleep.’ I said, toppling over forwards so that I face planted the duvet at my knees. Pulling my legs further under me, I curled into a ball and hugged myself.

‘What’s wrong Rosebud? Why can’t you sleep?’ Richard said softly. I heard him approach and the bed sink as it took his weight. I turned my head towards him and he reached a hand out to brush my hair away from my face.

‘I had a dream.’ I said pitifully ‘but I don’t think it was a dream.’

‘You’ve lost me.’

‘I had a bad dream, but I don’t think it was a dream.’ I said sitting up so I was on a more similar eye level to him.

‘Why wouldn’t it have been a dream?’ He asked, still sounding confused.

‘Warlocks can project thoughts onto people when their minds are at rest. It’s a complicated spell and it would take some time and power to perform over such a long distance. But I can’t explain it any other way. It couldn’t have been a dream.’

‘What makes you think it wasn’t just a dream?’

‘It was too specific. It was a warning. That they’re coming for me.’

‘What happened?’

I told him. From the apples to the body of Philipp to the words Kristof had said to me. I tried to distance myself from it as I spoke. I didn’t want to feel sick again. He listened in silence, his face serious, as I spoke.

‘We need to talk to Ian.’ He said as I finished my story. He got up and helped me out of bed and led me out by my hand.

‘No wait, Richard, let me put the slippers on if we’re visiting Ian, I don’t want him tutting at me for having cold feet after the exhibition he made getting me to buy them.’ I said, pulling away. He let me go with a snort and waited while I found the slippers and put them on.

By the time I was ready Richard had lit a candle and was holding the door open for me.

‘Will Ian mind if we wake him up?’ I asked as we headed down the corridor.

‘Ian likes to be kept abreast of any new developments; he won’t mind.’ Richard said as he strode on. His legs were so long and moving so quickly that I had to jog a little to keep up. I was starting to get a bit cold now and was glad of the slippers, but hoped that Ian didn’t sleep too far away. Richard stopped suddenly in front of a door and wrapped on it with the back of his hand.

‘Come in.’ Came Ian’s voice from inside and Richard pushed the door open without further ado. I followed more slowly and found Ian sitting by his fire with a book, wearing a long luxurious looking bath robe. In my head I had half expected him to be wearing a nighty and one of those night hats with a bobble on the end. I didn’t know why, it just seemed appropriate. I didn’t tell him.

‘We have a problem.’ Richard said, ushering me over to his side and sitting me down on a chair near the fire.

‘Oh?’ Ian prompted. He looked wide awake and alert, I wasn’t sure what time it was but signs of sleep were not touching his face.

‘I had a dream, but I don’t think it was a dream.’ I said, unsure of how to word it.

‘She thinks it was the warlocks sending her a message.’ Richard clarified. I was grateful. ‘Tell him what you told me.’ I started the story again, almost word for word what I had told Richard, but he listened as attentively as if he had not heard it before. I finished with my garbled explanation of the thought projecting spell, which had Ian nodding.

‘Kristof is your father in law?’ Ian asked as the story came to a close.

‘Yes, I suppose.’ I replied.

‘And he said you belonged to him?’

‘Yes.’

‘I have heard of warlocks taking over people’s dreams. I think you’re right that it’s a message. I would also bet that they knew you would tell us.’ Ian said thoughtfully.

‘What do we do?’ I asked

‘Well, you do not go back to sleep tonight. We don’t want any communication between us and the warlocks.’ Ian said decisively.

‘Would it not be useful? I mean, I didn’t like having the dream, but wouldn’t it be handy to know what they’re planning?’ I asked.

‘Not this way. They are deliberately showing you what they want you to see. They know not to give any vital information away. I may not like them, but I can’t deny they do have some brains between them. All these dreams, if we must call them that, are going to do is upset you and possibly try and divide you against us. It’s dangerous and pointless to let you continue to receive them.’ Ian explained. I nodded, it was obvious when he said it.

‘Am I ever going to be able to sleep again?’ I asked cheekily.

‘It’s four in the morning. It’s not an unreasonable time to be awake. You will be able to sleep when the sun next sets.’ Ian said, a smile in his eyes. ‘I’d like to see you for breakfast at six. If you have nothing better to do Richard I think you should stay on her.’

‘I will.’ Richard said. I was pleased to find Richard seemed to have mellowed since I’d last seen him. He held a demeanour more like the one I had known when we were first getting to know each other. That being said, I didn’t know him very well now.

I sensed that this conversation had come to a close I stood up, smiling in thanks to Ian. Richard took my hand as we left and held it comfortingly as we walked. I liked him like this; when I could sense the care and safety he was willing to provide. I didn’t fully understand the way he had reacted towards Aidan, but I knew that at the heart of it was a protectiveness created when he had rescued me from the warlocks. It was why I felt safest around him; a deep rooted connection.

I tightened my hold on his hand.

Arriving at his room we silently entered, but he didn’t let go of my hand. He made his way to the bed and put the candle he was still carrying on the table beside it. He sighed and looked down at me.

‘I’m sorry. Really sorry about the way I’ve been behaving. I was being selfish and forgot to think about you. After what you’ve been through that was reprehensible and I can only apologise. It won’t happen anymore.’ He said. I could see his face well enough in the candle light and saw honesty and sincerity radiating from him.

‘You mean no more frowning?’ I asked.

‘I’ll try my best.’ He said, looking relieved. I felt the tenseness in his hands relax and a small smile creep onto his face. I had a question. A request…

‘Richard?’

‘Yes Rosebud?’

‘Will you kiss me?’


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! 
> 
> I can’t believe how long it is since I updated anything on here. My life has been so hectic recently I haven’t had the time nor inclination to write. I’m hoping I will have some time for writing soon and can do some more regular updates for a little while, but life is so unpredictable I have no idea if it will turn out like that.
> 
> To anyone who is still interested in reading, thank you and I’m so sorry it’s taken so long! My writing style is a bit of a mess at the moment, I'm sorry about that too, hopefully it will improve as I work on it more.
> 
>  
> 
> xxxx

 Richard’s face was blank. He stared unblinkingly at me with no expression. His eyes were not focusing on anything and whatever cogs were turning round in his mind were staying resolutely behind an iron mask. As ten silent seconds stretched to twenty I began to think I had overstepped a boundary. After his behaviour recently I had thought that this of all things was not going to be an unwanted request. My own curiosity had been floating around in the background of my mind, overshadowed by more important things.

None the less, wanted or not, it didn’t seem to be able to sink in and the blank look continued until I had to say something.

‘Richard? Are you ok?’ I asked, cautiously waving my hand in front of his face. ‘Richard?’

‘What do you mean you want me to kiss you?’ he said, snapping out of his trance so quickly that I jumped.

‘I would have thought that it was fairly self-explanatory.’

‘I mean…why?’ He asked, suspiciously.

‘You saw Phillipp kiss me. You have to understand my curiosity at what it’s like to be kissed by someone that doesn’t want to hurt me.’ I answered. It was a part truth, I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to say the other reason out loud yet.

‘Aidan kissed you when you were in that shop.’ He responded. I almost rolled my eyes in exasperation, why now?

‘That was nothing more than a peck on the lips and part of the act. Why does everything we talk about seem to come back to Aidan?’ I demanded back.

‘I don’t…’

‘Do not say you don’t know.’ I butt in.

‘Alright, because he’s good looking and funny and he likes you. And you…you seem happy when you’re with him.’ he finished lamely, his eyes on the floor.

‘Do I not seem happy when I’m with you?’

‘I…’ he started, but I cut across him again.

‘I am. Is that so difficult to fathom?’ He paused, his eyes flickering round the room, looking in any direction but mine.

‘If I start I’m not sure I’ll be able to stop.’ He said weakly in answer to an unasked question. I began to wonder if his resistance had more to do with what he was, than who he was.

‘Is that the only reason? Because I don’t mind that.’

‘You cannot say you don’t mind when you have no idea of the consequences. I could end up killing one of my own friends because of some stupid jealousy issue that it has recently become clear to me I can’t control.’ He said, a bitter note creeping into his voice.

‘You can’t control your jealousy as we are, as far as I can see there will be little change on that front. If you don’t learn to control it then you’re still in danger of killing one of your friends.’ I countered.

‘Will you call an end to this conversation if I tell you I am in danger of killing you?’ he asked, managing to look into my eyes this time.

‘No.’ I answered belligerently.

‘Listen to yourself! How can you have so little regard for your own life that you would risk yourself for a moment of passion?’ he spat.

‘I would not be risking my life Richard, you would not kill me.’ I replied calmly.

‘You don’t know that Rosa, I don’t know what I’m capable of.’

‘I don’t need to…Wait….you don’t know what you’re capable of? What is that supposed to mean? You told me if you were not able to completely control yourself I would not be alive right now.’ I asked in disbelief, I found myself wanting to ask so many more questions. Richard looked uncomfortable at this, as though I had caught him in an untruth. He turned his head to the side so he was sure of not catching my eyeline.

‘I….When erm…for fucks sake.’ He stammered ‘when I was first turned I found it difficult to control my thirst for blood. Subsequently, I do not drink from humans directly and as a consequence of that I have had very little personal encounters with non vampires in a long time. On a day to day basis I am fine, but if I taste your blood through your skin there could be serious repercussions.’ He said sharply, turning away from me fully so I was now left staring at the back of his head.

‘You have tasted my blood before, you were in control then, what makes you think you couldn’t be in control of it now? Or is this less of a problem with control and more a case of you not having been with a woman for so long you worry about your prowess?’ he faced me fully then, looking me directly in the eye with an expression showing such a complete and utter sense of disbelief that the anger he was feeling had no space to convey itself on his face. The balled fisted held rigidly at the end of tensed arms were the indication I took that he was indeed rapidly losing his temper.

In several quick steps he had crossed the distance between us and backed me into the wall beside the door, pinning me in with his arms braced against the rough tapestry at my back. Given recent events I was shocked at my lack of fear as he glowered down at me. My heart was beating wildly against my chest, but out of excitement not because I sensed I was in danger from him. His head had lowered so that our foreheads were almost touching and I could feel his breath on my face as his eyes bore into mine with an intensity I had not experienced before.

‘I have never had anyone question my ability to pleasure a woman, I didn’t think you would be the first.’

 His head lowered further and I closed my eyes to be greeted a moment later by the softness of his lips touching mine. I had heard people say how they lose themselves in a kiss, how the world falls away and they can’t even remember where they put their hands. I did not feel like that. From the moment our lips connected my body became hyper-aware, my senses tingling as if every particle of my being was trying to absorb that moment to its fullest extent.

 I could feel every thread of the tapestry behind me, the way that my slippers had not had the time to conform to the shape of my feet, the fact that Richard’s heart was now beating so quickly it had lost its usual erratic nature and almost had a rhythm. He was so slow with his movements, deliberate, that, in all his offense over his ability to indulge the needs of the opposite sex he was restraining himself in an effort not to alarm me to the degree that, if he didn’t step it up, I was going to be left wanting more.

 Tentatively, I reached an arm up to lay my palm flat against his chest as the other reached around the back of his neck and ran my fingers through his hair. He deepened this kiss, I could feel his tongue against my bottom lip and instinctively opened my mouth to him. The iron clad control he’d wanted to exhibit was melting away as quickly as ice over an open fire. His hands moved from the wall and gripped firmly around my waist, pulling my body off of the wall and pressing against him. His tongue was performing some sort of sensual dance with mine, leading me further and further into the abyss. It was so different to what I had felt with Philipp and while I could not pin point the exact details of the differences but I knew that, for all my inexperience, this was how it felt to fall in love with someone.

 I felt one of his hands work their way up the length of my body and up to cup the back of my head, holding me firmly in place as his tongue retreated. I thought he was about to move back and call an end to it, but instead I felt his teeth graze my lower lip. A low growl escaped him and he dragged his teeth harder this time against the delicate flesh inside my mouth. I gasped and my eyes flickered open for a fraction of a second. He seemed to wake up at my intake of breath, he stopped moving, his lips still on mine but motionless, breathing heavily all the while.

‘Fuck’ He muttered pulling back. I felt the cold air hit me before I opened my eyes and heard the door to what I assumed was the bathroom open and slam shut. I let out a long breath and felt my knees wobble. I made it to the bed before they gave out on me however, and lay back catching my breath. When I had asked the question I had either expected him to refuse out right and that would be it or to give me a token peck and leave it at that. Being kissed to within an inch of my life was not what I had predicted. I wasn’t about to complain, not about the kiss itself anyway. I had some questions about why I was alone on the bed and he was locked in the bathroom however.

 I decided against disturbing him. Not knowing the mood he was in I didn’t want to be on the receiving end of something I couldn’t handle. I wasn’t entirely sure what made me think I could handle what had happened thus far.

 Eventually the lock on the door to the bathroom clicked, the door opened and Richard stepped out looking dishevelled but far more relaxed than I was anticipating.

‘Rosebud, I’m sorry about tha- ’

‘What happened? Why did you need to lock yourself away?’ I interrupted. I didn’t need remorse, I wanted answers.

 He ran his fingers through his hair, the look on his face indicating that he was trying to find a way of not having to answer me. I groaned and got off of the bed, a surge of anger passing through me. The room suddenly burst into light, flickering from the flames that had lit on every candle and the fireplace.

‘You seem to have a natural affinity with fire.’ Richard said looking round unfazed.

‘Don’t change the subject.’ I barked back. The newly illuminated room made seeing the minute details on his face much easier, but given that his face was now blank of expression my eyes took a moment to scan the room. Something caught my eye and gave me an idea.

‘Can we play a game of chess?’

‘Chess…seems safe.’ He said, walking over to the table and chairs with an ornate wooden chess set upon it. It looked like it was permanently ready to be played, in fact it appeared that been left mid game, as Richard was putting each piece back to its starting position.

‘Which side do you wish to play?’

‘Black.’ I answered immediately.

‘You don’t think you’re at a disadvantage by starting second?’ He asked, sounding surprised.

‘Richard, think who I would probably have been playing against. Do you really think I’d ever be allowed to make the first move?’ I replied. He nodded.

‘I understand.’ He said, taking the seat opposite and picked up a pawn to make his first move. The games of chess progressed, we didn’t speak throughout the first game other than to congratulate each other on particularly good moves. Richard won the first, he played a shrewd game and I was in check before I even knew where I was. We were a few moves in to the second game when I thought I’d attempt some conversation.

‘How old were you when you were turned?’ I asked, genuinely curious.

‘Thirty-seven.’ He replied.

‘When?’ I continued.

‘The 14th of December 1516.’ He said as he lifted up a pawn and knocked one of mine out of the way.

‘You know the exact date?’ I asked, surprised, as I moved a bishop into a more prominent position.

‘That was the date I had died, I found that out from my gravestone and Ian turned me a few hours later.’

‘Do you remember anything of what it was like to erm…be a living person?’ I asked haltingly. I still wasn’t sure of how to word these things, Aidan was very open, unfortunately it didn’t mean Richard was going to be the same.

‘I remember my life as a human if that’s what you mean?’

‘Yes, I did. Were you happy?’

‘I was for a while. I was the second son of a Viscount, I had a good upbringing and education. My elder brother thrived so I was not to inherit. I was involved in various matters overseas, politics and so on. I was not rich, but I was comfortable.’ He said calmly, moving his knight to take my bishop.

‘Did you marry?’ I asked, becoming less and less interesting in the game of chess that I was rapidly losing.

‘I did, when I was twenty-two. My father arranged it with hers. Her family was very well off and she came with a good dowry. I’m not sure what the incentive was for her to marry me. Poor little thing. Barely eighteen and with terrible constitution. She died in childbirth two years later and I never married again.’ He said, waiting for me to make my next move.

‘I’m sorry to hear that.’ I said, absentmindedly moving my king one space to the side.

‘It was common back then.’ He shrugged, taking another one of my pawns.

‘Did you love her very much if you did not marry again?’

‘I was fond of her by the end, but no, I didn’t love her. Marrying her was a convenience.’

‘But you still got her pregnant.’

‘It was what was expected of us. I wish we had never tried, then at least she might have had a longer life.’ He said, his voice neutral.

‘Is this what made you so interested in helping with my situation? You having been in an arranged marriage and had expectations put on you?’ I asked

‘Not entirely no. It informed my decision, but didn’t make it. You have to remember that I was the man in my situation. I took care of my wife to the best of my ability, I knew living with me was not perfect, I was young myself. But I never hurt her or willingly made her unhappy. If I had been older and thought more carefully, I would have realised with her ill health she was never going to survive giving birth, but in those days…you didn’t think like that, so maybe it wouldn’t have mattered.’ He finished sombrely.

‘Did the baby survive?’ I asked quietly. Richard shook his head.

‘He was stillborn. My wife and child dead by the time I was twenty-four.’

‘But you didn’t live to an old age either.’

‘Not by today’s standards no.’ he said on an outbreath.

‘What killed you?’ I asked

‘It wasn’t what, but who. I was murdered by a common thief in the streets of London.’ He said with more emotion in his voice than when he was talking about his wife.

‘And Ian found you?’ I asked, he gave a snort of laughter at this

‘Ian confessed to me some time later that he had already noticed me, I was tall for a human in those times, and had kept an eye on me in case the worst befell me. He thought I would make a good vampire. He was aware of my death and - ’

‘Ian didn’t kill you, did he?’ I interrupted, sounding like a simpleton from a pantomime. Richard laughed properly at this and leaned back in his chair.

‘No he didn’t. He didn’t need to. There were enough street deaths or disease there was a good likelihood that I was going to die prematurely, particularly given that I was quite taken with doing reckless things. I owe a lot to Ian, he was very persistent with my problems with blood and got me on the right road.’

‘Do you ever wish he’d just let you die?’ I asked.

‘Now? No, not at all. When I was first turned I wanted to die every single minute of every single day. My desire for blood was unquenchable, I killed several people before Ian could secure me properly. Then I was in a living hell locked in a dungeon under this place until my appetite could be quenched by bottled blood.’ He said, not looking so relaxed but also not returning his attention to the chess board.

‘How long did that take?’

‘About four years, give or take a few months. I don’t remember the specifics.’ He said offhandedly

‘Four _years_?!’ I exclaimed, my mouth dropping open.

‘It didn’t feel like that long really. Certainly not now. Time washes away a lot of grievances.’ He said simply, it still seemed inconceivable to me to not be bothered by being forcibly incarcerated for that amount of time.

‘You have the time, to the rest of us four years seems like a long time to waste imprisoned.’

‘You could live for longer if you took some of my blood.’ He said quickly.

‘Pardon?’ I said, not entirely sure if I’d heard correctly. He didn’t want to take my blood but he was happy for me to take his? Couldn’t be right.

‘If you were to drink some of my blood it would extend your life.’ He said trying to sound calm but there was a waver in his voice that I did not miss.

‘Do you want me to?’ I asked.

‘I…err, I…’ he mumbled

‘Please tell me the truth.’ I said impatiently.

‘Having lived for so long I find a normal human life span very short.’ He said, avoiding a straight answer but I got the idea.

‘So you would like me to drink your blood so I live longer? Who would that benefit?’ I continued.

‘You, I would hope. It’s very fortifying, or so I’m told, and when you are older it will help you feel youthful again. It can also delay the physical aging process if you drink it regularly.’ He explained. There sounded like some good points to this, I was not completely averse to the idea, but I wasn’t about to let him have his own way so easily.

‘If I drink yours, I want you to drink mine.’ I said.

‘Rosebud…’ He protested

‘No Richard, you may not be saying it out loud, but I know you care about me. How are we meant to progress if you are afraid to get too close to me?’

‘I have not taken blood directly from a human in almost five-hundred years.’ He stood up and started pacing up and down behind his chair.

‘No, you have already taken some of mine!’ I countered.

‘And it drove me crazy! You said when we talked about this before, you said “it’s my life too” and it is! I had forgotten about putting you first when I was so desperate to think of a way for me to help you and even with all my will power it gave me a rush that I had ignored for such a long time. And you know what the only thing that stopped me seeking out more fresh blood was? You, the fact that in my mind your blood was so incomparably good that none other would make me feel like yours did.’ He all of this very quickly, very emotionally, like every word came from the heart and he was letting his deeper thoughts break through the barriers a man like him had to build.

‘Then why didn’t you come back and drain every drop from my body?’ I said softly, needing to understand this fully but aware that

‘Because I love you.’ He faced the wall and leant his head against it, looking like he was in physical pain. ‘Because my need to see you alive and well crushes how much I want your blood.’

‘Then I don’t understand what the problem is.’ I said standing and approaching him slowly.

‘Rosebud, when I lose myself with you I forget everything. What if I can’t stop?’ he said, aware of my presence now next to him. He didn’t move away, even when I took his hand and entwined my fingers with his.

‘You don’t know either way, what are we meant to do if you are not willing to find out?’ I said gently.

‘I…I can’t answer that. Please can you….can you give me a little time to think? I don’t know what’s happening in any part of my life, I know you feel the same and that you want comfort, but I can’t take the risk on a whim.’ He said, I could feel him relax slightly and squeezed his hand.

‘Ok, if you need some time you can have it.’


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas everyone!

 

Richard’s mind was clearly elsewhere when we sat back down to continue playing chess. He managed to win the game we had interrupted, but the other two games I scraped victories of. He was a far superior player and his subsequent losses gave me hope that he was giving serious thought to our conversation.

 For my part, the silence had given me some thinking time and I had decided that I needed to talk to Ian about this, preferably before Richard could. Ian knew everything about Richard’s past battles with blood and may even be able to look at this situation with more clarity than Richard.

 He’d said he loved me, which made my face grow warm whenever I thought of it, but love was not enough in this situation. He needed more. We both did. My thoughts were so cluttered, my emotions felt shattered but every single piece of them was drawing me to him. The parts of my heart that I had not allowed surface room were stirring and demanding I no longer neglect them, but with such urgency that it fought hand to hand with the terror of my body obeying to something my mind was not in agreement with. I had never felt so out of control of myself.

‘Ah there you two are, keeping yourselves busy, good.’ Ian’s voice said from somewhere behind me so suddenly that I catapulted forward in shock with so much force that I scattered all the beautiful array of chess pieces all over the floor.

‘Jesus Ian! Where did you come from? I didn’t even hear you open the door.’ I said dropping to my knees to pick up the pieces ‘Richard, I’m so sorry, I don’t think any of them are broken.’ I said as I feverishly picked up each one and checked them over as closely as I could.

‘Rosebud, it’s alright.’ Richard said, kneeling before me and taking them from my hands. His face had softened for the first time since I’d woken up and I felt a wave of reassurance pass through me. We would get through this and pick up all the scattered pieces of both of our lives. But for now I needed to talk to Ian and it seemed like an appropriate time to try and isolate him for a chat.

 I didn’t know what the best course of action was, so as I stood up I pulled a face at Ian in the hope that he might possibly guess what I wanted. Remarkably he caught my expression and nodded.

‘Richard, Graham and Martin are out moving a few things outside but I think they could do with an extra pair of hands, if you wouldn’t mind?’ he said smoothly. I was amazed at how quickly he was able to both gauge what I meant and act on it.

‘I…couldn’t Ben go?’ Richard said looking a bit confused.

‘No, no, you’ll be fine.’ Ian said unperturbed ‘I’d like a little moment with Rosa before the day starts, just to put her at ease. I will be happy to escort her down to breakfast.’

‘I’ll be fine Richard. I have a few questions to ask Ian about why female vampires are a taboo subject round here anyway, since I can’t get a good answer out of anyone else.’ I said, remembering my earlier conversation with Ben, which felt like it had taken place days ago.

‘Rather you than me.’ Richard said with a smirk and left the room without further complaints.

‘I do hope that you didn’t have me send him away just so you can ask me about female vampires. Not that I wouldn’t answer you, but it seems a bit much.’ Ian said after the door had closed behind Richard.

‘No, I have a problem Ian. A problem with Richard.’ I said.

‘Ah. I think we’d better go to my rooms. He won’t barge in there if the conversation turns delicate. Get dressed, I’ll be waiting on the other side of the door.’ He said understandingly.

 Overjoyed that he was taking this seriously, I quickly darted over to the chest of drawers Richard had emptied to make room for my new clothes and threw on anything I could find without bothering to make sure Ian had made it out of the room yet. Shoving my feet back into my slippers I hurried out of the room to find Ian. Taking in my appearance he gave me a critical look.

‘While I’m pleased you didn’t leave me waiting too long, I have to question you clothing choices.’ He said. I looked down at myself and realised that not only had I managed to put my top on inside out, but it was back to front as well.

‘I’ll sort it out when we’re in your rooms, can we go?’ I asked impatiently. Ian nodded and took my arm to lead me sedately down to his quarters.

 Once inside and the door closed I fiddled with the hem of my t shirt

‘Ian, would you mind looking away? You don’t have to leave the room.’ I asked. He did so without question and I slipped the top over my head, flipped it the right way round and struggled back into it. ‘Ok, done.’

‘You seem quite comfortable undressing with a man in the room.’ Ian said as he surveyed my rearranged appearance.

‘I’ve been here long enough to know that you are the man that poses the least amount of threat to me.’ I mumbled.

‘I could drink your blood.’ He countered.

‘Yeah, good luck with dealing with Richard after doing that.’ I said grimly, meaning it as a joke but the fact that it was as true as it was left a bitter taste in my mouth.

‘Hmm, quite right. What is the problem with him that you want to speak to me about? Although I think I can guess.’ Ian said as he settled himself comfortable in his wingback armchair.

‘What do you guess?’ I asked.

‘That Richard is torn between his natural desire to be closer to you to protect you from your kind and his fear of in doing so hurting you himself.’ Ian said, not exactly smugly, but a little too confidently.

‘I don’t know how you manage it Ian, but you’ve got it pretty much spot on.’ I said.

‘I’ve known Richard a very long time. He’s a complex person.’ _He could say that again_ I thought unhappily. At least he seemed to have the measure of it.

‘He told me you knew him before you turned him.’ I said.

‘Did he? So you know the reasons behind his little problem?’ he said surprised, I nodded ‘I did know him. Not well, but we moved in the same circles. He came across as gentle, when I turned him I expected him to take to it well and was complacent. I take on the blame for what he did, I should have known better.’

‘If he was so much trouble why didn’t you just kill him?’ I asked, not knowing if I wanted to know the answer.

‘Selfishness I’m afraid. He was so powerful we knew that if we only harness him he would be useful to us.’

‘And is he?’

‘Richard is an incredible example of how the very best of vampires are meant to function. Focused, strong, a great leader and fearless without being reckless. If it wasn’t for his problems with blood he would have rivalled the elite of the first born.’ Ian said, his eyes glazing over with the memories.

‘And because of his blood problems?’ I asked.

‘He’s not as strong. Fresh blood is a stimulant for us. It heightens all our senses, our reaction speed is faster, our brain function sharper. It feels like our bodies have been refreshed, it’s difficult to explain, but it’s the most incredible experience we as a species can have. Graham told me he went to see Richard the night he took your blood, yes I do know about that’ he added at my quizzical look ‘Graham said he’d never seen Richard behave like he did that night. He knew he’d had blood, he’s seen Richard after drinking blood before, but he said he was different. He wasn’t frenzied or desperate for more. He said he radiated power. I wish I’d seen it, a second hand account doesn’t answer the amount of questions I have. Taking the blood of the magically born is something that hasn’t been done in centuries.’

‘If he wasn’t…frenzied or anything, might that mean he could be persuaded to take some more?’ I said, feeling stupid for asking, especially in such an undignified way.

‘I hope so; I feel like I’ve been waiting a long time to see him at full strength.’ Ian said. I found it funny how we both wanted to get Richard to do the same thing, but had different reasons for it. Actually, I wasn’t sure if funny was the right word. Ian’s reasons were far more world changing than mine.

‘How do we get him to do it though? I’ve asked, but he was reluctant and…’ I started, but Ian shook his head.

‘You have to understand, vampires have very little need to mix on an emotional level with other species. When we do it’s either to fulfil the need for blood or for sex. Richard feels as though he can indulge in neither with you in case he causes you mortal harm. The only way that will change is if you become, for want of a better word, unbreakable.’

‘And how is that supposed to happen?’

‘I hope that will become clearer later today. Don’t fret about it, you’re going to have a busy day today, it will be clear soon enough.’

‘But, wait….’ I started, but at that moment there came a knock at the door.

‘Ian, can I talk to you?’ Richards voice said through the still closed door. I stared, wide eyed, at Ian who didn’t look perturbed at all.

‘Just give me a couple of minutes Richard.’ Ian said calmly, standing up, taking me by the arm and leading me into the adjoining bedroom.

‘What are you doing? This is bad, he’ll be able to smell me!’ I hissed upon entering the bedroom. Ian remained silent and pointed me towards a large ornately carved wardrobe. ‘What the fuck Ian, you’re not sending me to bloody Narnia!’ I said resisting but he didn’t back down. He opened the door and pushed me inside, where I found the largest coat collection I had ever seen.

‘Now, young lady, this wardrobe might not send you to a different world, but it has its own magic.’ He said as he began to shut the door. Before they shut he paused. ‘There is a hole in the side, if you look through it you should be able to see into my sitting room.’ And with that he shut the doors and I was plunged into darkness.

 Muttering mutinously to myself I scrambled my way through the musty smelling coats until I found the hole, which was about the size of my thumbnail and peered through. With my nose pressed up uncomfortably against the wood I watched Ian open the door and Richard step through.

‘Was everything OK outside?’ Ian asked as he indicated to Richard to sit down.

‘Yes, they were nearly done when I arrived. I have a problem I hoped to discuss with you.’ Richard replied, taking his seat and leaning forwards with his elbows on his thighs.

‘Oh really?’ Ian said, as calmly as if he hadn’t been addressed with a similar question less than half an hour ago.

‘Yes. Rosa, it’s…I don’t know what I’m doing.’ He finished lamely, rubbing his face with his hands.

‘Graham told me you’d taken blood. Hers?’ Ian said passively, sitting down himself with his back to me. Richard nodded.

‘I wanted the blood link in case something went wrong. Which it did.’ He said slightly defensively.

‘I’m not angry with you for doing it, although I wish you’d told me, but how did it make you feel?’ I watched Richard’s face as he thought back, recalling the memories of how he felt. I saw his face relax, a whisper of a smile crossed his lips and his nostrils flared ‘That good?’ Ian asked.

‘Better. I don’t know if it was because it had been so long or if it was because she’s magically born, but I have never felt like that before.’ Richard said in a strangled voice.

‘Did you want more?’ Ian said, Richard nodded.

‘Yes, but only hers.’

‘But you didn’t drain her?’

‘I want her more than I want her blood. While she remained recalcitrant I could keep that thought in the forefront of my mind, but now…’

‘Now she wants you as you want her?’ Ian finished.

‘So it seems.’ Richard said. He was too far away for me to read his face properly and I shifted so that the other eye was looking through the hole.

‘Excuse me if I have misunderstood, but I don’t see the problem.’ Ian said as placidly as ever.

‘I…the problem? What if I lose control? What if I kill her?’ Richard said, his voice rising.

‘Hmm you have lived without fresh blood for too long. This is something we should have done sooner.’ Ian said, seemingly ignoring Richard’s agitation as well as his questions.

‘But I care about her.’ Richard iterated.

‘All to the good! Without wanting to put too fine a point on it, you have been living a cold life, even for one of us. You don’t need to, finally, finally you have found someone worthy of your affections, don’t be so noble. After today she will be able to handle anything you throw at her, she’s powerful, Richard, like nothing you will ever have experienced. You won’t kill her, you won’t hurt her.’ Ian said, which confused me enormously; I really couldn’t see how I could effectively defend myself against Richard. He was a big guy and magic didn’t effect vampires like it did everyone else. I was banking on not needing to fend him off in my negotiations.

‘She’s innocent Ian, she knows nothing about vampires just as she knows nothing about sex. How will she know if I…if I lose control?’ Richard spat.

‘You vastly underestimate her. She’s no wallflower, if she doesn’t like it you will know about it.’ Ian said.

‘You’re saying she’ll know because she won’t like it? Ian…’

‘Trust me, Richard.’ Ian said firmly. There was no reply from Richard and, with a sinking heart, I saw that he remained unconvinced. ‘Just think about it.’ Richard nodded and got up to leave.

‘I will.’ He said quietly, his hand reaching for the doorknob. Ian, who had been standing benignly beside his chair, took a sharp step forward. The motion made Richard turn back to see what Ian was doing.

‘Just out of curiosity, what answer were you expecting?’ Ian asked smoothly.

‘I hoped you would tell me not to, so that I would have a reason to keep myself in line.’ Richard admitted.

‘The lines need moving. If it’s not now, then it will only be another time. You’ve come a long way, but the journey still isn’t over.’ Ian said reassuringly. I could see Richard heave a sigh and he nodded, grasping the doorknob and leaving the room with no other words said.

 Ian waited, listening to Richard’s footsteps disappear down the corridor before walking quickly towards me and the wardrobe I was stuck in. I struggled my way back through the coats and, as Ian opened the door, I fell out. He held out his hand, I took it and, with surprising strength, he pulled me to my feet.

‘Ian, it smelt in there.’ I said, glancing back as where I’d just fallen from.

‘Well, some of them are very old.’ Ian said shutting the doors.

‘What happens next?’ I asked.

‘Well, at some point I suppose I could have a few of them dry cleaned but…’ realising his misunderstanding, he stopped at the look on my face. ‘Next with Rich? Just let him stew for a while. He’s never been good with information being sprung on him.’

‘And how long will that take?’

‘Patience is a virtue.’ Ian said. I raised an eyebrow. ‘He’ll come round.’

‘You hope.’

‘I most certainly do. Richard at full strength would be most advantageous for us if we end up having a war with your people.’

‘ _My_ people? Excuse me, they are not _my_ people.’

‘Oh enough, you know what I meant.’ He said as we walking back into his sitting room. ‘We should get you some breakfast.’

‘I’m not hungry.’

‘Just have this then.’ He said, walking over to a small round table by the door and taking a banana from the fruit bowl sitting upon it. ‘It’s going to be a long day.’

 

 


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To anyone out there still reading, thank you! xxx

‘So, what’s the deal with that wardrobe?’ I asked as Ian and I left his room to find the rest of castle inhabitants.

‘What do you mean?’ he replied

‘Don’t leave me hanging Ian, you said it was magic, was that why Richard couldn’t smell that I was there?’ I persisted doggedly. These vampires were way too cagey about answering simple questions.

‘The short answer is yes. It belonged to a witch I knew. She used to shelter less fortunate beings and would hide them in there when she was disturbed. The wardrobe will eliminate all residual scents in the room around it from whatever you place inside.’

‘Which is why, I assume, you have put those smelly coats in there.’ I said.

‘Correct.’

‘Do you have other pieces of magical paraphernalia lying around this place, or is it just the wardrobe and that old book you mysteriously forgot to mention anything about yesterday?’ I asked slyly.

‘Ha, there’s a bit more. I’m glad you remembered the book; I left it in my room. Can you go down to the entrance hall on your own while I collect it?’

‘Yes, of course.’ I said, mentally preparing myself for remembering the route.

‘I won’t be long.’ And with that he turned on his heel and was gone.

‘Vampires. Way too fast.’ I muttered as I continued with my journey.

 Luckily for me, Ian had left me not too far from the top of the main staircase that lead down to the entrance hall. One of the double doors was open out onto the courtyard and pale sunlight was streaming in, promising a beautiful day ahead. I descended the stairs slowly and upon reaching the bottom sat myself down on the penultimate step. The nerves were starting to kick in for the day ahead and my stomach was rolling. Richard had been a distracting influence and I hadn’t really considered what today was going to entail or what it was going to mean for the future. Selfishly, I had forgotten that the world of vampires and warlocks were preparing for war.

 Wallowing in the sorrow of my own making, I didn’t notice the figure approaching me until he was mere feet away.

‘Rosebud? Are you ok?’ I looked up to see Richard’s face looking concernedly down at me. I nodded

‘I just…it’s…’ I mumbled stupidly. I was relieved when he moved forward to take a seat on the step with me. He sat close, but didn’t touch me.

‘Do you know what’s happening today?’ I asked

‘No, I don’t. Didn’t Ian tell you anything?’ He responded. My mind froze, that’s what Ian was supposed to be talking to me about when we were in his room.

‘He might have done.’ I said slowly ‘But…you know Ian, he talks in riddles.’

‘True.’ He said, a smile curling on his lips. ‘Getting information from him can be like getting blood out of a stone.’

‘He seems to like everyone to try it first and see if works afterwards. Sometimes the worry running up to the event is worse than the actual thing.’

‘Are you worried?’

‘No…yes. A little bit. The unknown is always a bit scary, isn’t it?’ I said, my mind flitting from the incomprehensibility of magic, to equally confusing mind of the man sitting next to me. Whether he could guess what I was thinking or not, he nodded thoughtfully.

‘Whatever happens, I will still be here.’ He said, and reached out to take my hand.

‘Thank you.’ I said, willing the tears that were forming at the back of my eyes to go away. He squeezed my hand reassuringly, then his head snapped up. I looked around, while no one was there, there were voices approaching.

‘I hope this doesn’t take more than half the day. I have some phone calls to make this afternoon.’ Martin’s voice said.

‘I shouldn’t think so, we’ll be in trouble if it does.’ Ken replied.

‘Have there been witches here before?’ Aidan’s voice asked, I felt Richard’s arm stiffen momentarily in awareness of the other man.

‘A few, Ian was the one to mingle with the magic folk. Most of them never made it up here.’ Ken replied, given that this was Ken’s residence I assumed that he meant that Ian had other places to conduct his social endeavours.

‘Is there anyone Ian doesn’t mingle with?’ Dean asked as the group filtered into the entrance hall.

‘No, there isn’t.’ Ian’s voice said from somewhere up the stairs behind me. I turned to see him walking nimbly down the steps, the book tucked under one arm. ‘Is everyone who wants to be in attendance here?’

‘The others have already gone down to the lake.’ Ken said as they started to move towards the door leading outside. Richard and I stood up but before we could take a step forward Ken’s words registered in my mind.

‘Others? Wait, wait, wait, lake? Did you just say lake? Am I going to get wet?’ I said loudly.

‘It’s a warm day, you’ll dry out.’ Ian replied. Before he turned away I could see an amused smirk hovering on his lips.

‘What? Ian!’ I whined as Richard put his hand on my back to guide me forwards.

‘You’ll be all right Rosebud.’ He said quietly, lowering his head so he wouldn’t be overheard. We were at the back of the small party, but not far enough for his comfort.

‘I’m not a very strong swimmer, Richard.’ I confessed softly.

‘I’m not fond of water myself. But you won’t be in danger, not with all of us here.’

‘Yeah, about that, how many of you lot have turned up for this? I’m not overly fond of being used as entertainment.’ I asked, but Richard just shrugged, keeping his face purposefully impassive. 

 The grounds of Knightswood were as expansive and as fascinating as the castle itself. I caught a glimpse of an impressive formal garden with a fountain which, unless I was very much mistaken, depicted the fall of Lucifer, several small summerhouses that mimicked the architectural style of the castle itself and, in the distance, a large herd of deer that were grazing amongst mature trees. My mind flooded with questions that I kept to myself. There would be a time for asking them, but I got the sense that now was not one of them.

 It was not a long walk. The lake, it turned out, was visible from the East side of the castle across a reasonable sized lawn which, Richard told me, was used for cricket in the warm weather. That piece of information brought forth more questions, but I didn’t ask those either, as at that moment a small crowd came into sight.

‘Oh God.’ I muttered. Richard must have heard, as his returned to my back to give me a small reassuring rub, before withdrawing again. I started to feel very nervous as eyes began to focus on me; not only the only mortal, but also the only woman. A sudden stab of loneliness gripped me, not just for my situation as it stood, but because it dawned on me how emotionally separate I had spent most of my life. The people that surrounded me right now were, to my knowledge, as worth trusting as anyone else that had spent time in my life with. I hoped that they would prove worthier of my trust than everyone else had.

 I jerked out of my thoughts by the sound of Ian’s voice saying

‘Are you ready?’

 I looked out across the mass of water; still and silent. I hadn’t appreciated how peaceful water could look.

‘They hid the magic in a lake?’ I asked, resigned to the fact I wasn’t about to be spending the best morning of my life.

‘Yes. Water seals magic surprisingly well. Can you feel it?’ Ian asked.

‘No. Not at all.’ I replied, realising how strange that was.

‘Take off your shoes.’ Ian said. I gave him a disdainful look.

‘Take off my shoes? What’s with the orders Ian, what’s next? Shall I just do a strip tease for you and have done with it?’ I said crossly, my nerves starting to feel the strain of the unfolding events.

‘Do you want to get your shoes wet?’ Ian asked evenly.

‘No.’ I grudgingly replied.

‘Then take them off.’ Ian said, as placid as ever. I sighed and cursed under my breath as I untied the laces on my shoes and slipped them off.

‘And now you want me to dive right in, yes?’ I asked mutinously. I heard Richard’s snort of badly concealed laughter from behind me. At least he was finding this funny.

‘Just your feet. Then tell me what you feel.’ Ian said.

 I sighed and stepped in. That’s when things changed. The water wasn’t cold, or hot, or warm. The temperature was completely irrelevant. I could feel magic. The tingling, buzzing, exciting sensation I had felt before, but never to this intensity. It was strong here, I could feel it pulling me forward; dragging me in. I was only vaguely aware I was moving. It was the shouts I could hear more than the awareness of my limbs stepping forward. I could hear Richard’s voice, but could not make out what he was shouting. I wasn’t frightened of the water anymore; I wasn’t irritated at being watched. All I wanted was to get closer to the source of the magic.

 I instinctively drew in a long breath and fully immersed myself in the water. My mind was clearer than it was above water. I could see through the water like the murkiness of the lake wasn’t there, swimming with ease towards the pull of magic. The need for it was immense, I didn’t think I could stop driving myself towards it even if I tried. I swam on, diving deeper into the shadows, until I saw it. A sphere of light in the darkness, tendrils whispering away from it like smoke, fading away into the dark.

 I knew then. I knew what I had to do. I redoubled my efforts swimming, going as fast as I possibly could, aiming my head straight for the ball of magic. The wisps of light were reaching out to me, offering me their protection, their safely. It was all I ever needed. It was a part of me that needed to be replaced. My head broke through the surface of the sphere. The light went out and, in the darkness I could breathe again. I felt the magic filling every inch of my body until I was weightless. I didn’t know what was happening, I just felt euphoric, riding on a wave of bliss. Eyes closed, I laughed. My life played back to me, but I didn’t feel the pangs of emptiness anymore. The past was gone, just a memory.

‘Rosebud?’ Richard’s voice said from above me. It didn’t sound like a memory.

‘Vampires playing cricket. Doesn’t seem right somehow.’ I said absently, my eyes still shut.

‘Well, we do play at night, if that makes it any better.’ Ian said.

‘More plausible, but still.’ I replied, opening my eyes. Richard, Ian, Aidan and Ben were kneeling beside me, while other faces loomed behind them, peering at me from above.

‘Are you ok?’ Richard asked, looking like he didn’t know whether to touch me or not.

‘Where am I?’ I asked, realising that my last coherent memory was while I was still underwater.

‘You’re about ten feet back from where you entered the lake.’ Ian said.

‘How did I get here?’ I asked, trying to remember what happen.

‘This huge wave, like a tsunami, erupted from the middle of the lake and rushed towards us. It died down and there you were, lying on the top of it.’ Aidan said. I didn’t know whether he sounded amazed or traumatised.

 I relaxed into the earth. I wanted to laugh again, this was madness.

‘Are you ready to get up now?’ Ben asked. He and Ian were the only ones not looking worried.

‘Yeah, I suppose so. Can you lot stop staring at me? I don’t feel that different.’ I said, pushing up onto my elbows.

 Richard grabbed me under one arm and Aidan reached out to clasp my other hand. The moment my hand touched Aidan’s an immense surge of power radiated through my body, rushing towards the hand he was holding. Without warning Aidan flew backwards, the magic propelled from me bodily lifting him and throwing him straight into Dean, who was standing behind him.

‘Oh my God! Are you hurt?’ I said scrambling to my feet, Richard limp and completely useless, staring at Aidan with his eyebrows raised.

 Aidan and Dean, both groaning, managed to separate themselves from each other and slump on the ground looking dazed.

‘Jesus, I feel like I’ve been hit by lightning.’ Aidan said, clutching his head; his curly hair looking somewhat bouncier than normal.

‘Ah man, I felt it when you hit me. Holy God.’ Dean said, rubbing his eyes.

‘Guys, I’m so sorry, I don’t know what happened. Ian…’ I said, rubbing my hands together nervously, glancing around at the silent faces surrounding me. This was going to be it. I’m a danger, they’ll get rid of me, why did I not question this more? Why did I go along with it?

 Then, into the silence, there was a laugh. Starting quietly and mounting into a hearty guffaw. I turned around to see Ian, his head thrown back indulging in wholehearted enjoyment. I didn’t know if I should be angry with him for taking pleasure in something so serious, but I wasn’t. I hoped this meant he knew what he was doing.

‘You’ll live, boys. You can take a drive tonight and find some pleasure, if that makes you feel better.’ Ian said, still chuckling to himself. I blanched at this casual and plainspoken proposition, not knowing what they were going to find pleasure in, they were vampires after all. I thought it might all be a bit more hush hush.

 Aidan and Dean brightened at this offer, however, feeling as though the shock they had received was well worth it for a chance to escape the castle for a night. I still felt awful and didn’t know who to look at. If the magic in my touch was this strong and unpredictable it felt to me like finding a way to control it was not going to be a piece of cake. 

‘I didn’t think magic worked on vampires.’ Aidan said, he and Dean were now lounging comfortably on the grass as though nothing had happened.

‘I told you she was powerful.’ Ian said smugly.

‘Powerful enough?’ A voice said from the crowd.

‘That will remain to be seen. She has work to do.’ Ian said.

 My shoulders sagged. I was never one to shy away from hard work, but I didn’t like failing at things, and I felt like that is exactly what I would do. I didn’t feel very different and the more I thought on it the more I thought that I should be feeling something. I pushed my hands into the back pockets of my wet jeans. I wanted to crawl back into bed and forget the whole thing.

‘Are you all right Rosebud?’ Richard’s voice said from behind me. He was standing closely, watching my face with keen eyes.

‘I don’t feel anything new, I don’t understand. I’ve absorbed more magic than I can comprehend, why don’t I feel different?’ I said under my breath so that nobody else could hear. Or at least, I thought nobody else could hear. Ian and his bat grade ear function was the one to answer my question.

‘Give it time. It doesn’t know what to do yet, and neither do you.’

‘How do I learn?’ I asked, stepping towards him tentatively.

 Ian didn’t answer me but looked to the group that had been watching the underwhelming spectacle I had created and said

‘The interesting bit is over now, those of you who don’t want to stay, this is your opportunity to leave.’

 There was a smattering of talk before the crowd started to disperse. A few remained, Aidan and Dean stayed reclining on the ground, Ken, who was looking curiously at me, Graham, who was looking curiously at Richard, Richard himself, Ben, and Ian. Ian had seemingly lost interest in the departing crowd and had wandered off to an extremely large, tall tree stump by the water, where he lay the book he had still been casually carrying under one arm.

 I eyed the book suspiciously. I had felt a degree of magic from it before, but now I focused on it I could feel a buzzing, pulsing quality radiating from it, begging for me to touch it. Ian opened it and a rush of cold air brushed past me.

‘Did you feel that?’ I said, looking around me. The male eyes surrounding me looked from me to each other. I took that as a no. Great, they were going to think I’m crazy.

 Aidan and Dean, who had stood up at the opening of the book, hurried across to peer over Ian’s shoulder. Their intrigued expressions changed to confusion as they looked at the first page.

‘I don’t understand any of this.’ Aidan said

‘It’s not even got letters I know. It looks like something from Lord of the Rings.’ Dean said, scratching his chin. I felt my anxiety rise.

‘That, my boys, is because you are not supposed to be able to understand it. This book is for witches, and only a witch can read it.’ Ian said smoothly. He looked towards me and beckoned me towards him. ‘What do you see, Rosa?’

 I looked down at the open pages of the book reluctantly, not ready to admit that I couldn’t understand it either, but, to my utmost surprise, it wasn’t gibberish.

‘I…yes, I can read it.’ I said, the amazed note in my voice making Ian chuckle again.

‘Of course you can. You really need to learn to trust me, my dear.’

‘I’ll never doubt you again.’ I said, my eyes running over the words but not taking in what they meant.

‘I wouldn’t recommend trusting him wholly, Ian likes to amuse himself.’ Richards voice muttered from behind me. Ian scoffed but no other comment was made.

‘So, what does it say?’ Aidan said, clearly desperate to know what it meant. I wondered if the others were as keen to know but better at keeping their emotions from showing than he was.

 I looked more closely at the words, willing my dazed brain into taking in what it said. It took me several read throughs to fully comprehend it.

‘It says…it says that…to control the magic, you must contain it. That there are barriers to keep the magic in and out. This is what you meant earlier, isn’t it Ian. Can you read it?’ I wondered, thinking that he might be able to help me if he could.

‘Aldan gave me a brief overview of its contents.’ He replied, shrugging.

‘How brief is brief?’ Ben asked suspiciously.

‘Quite extensive. Keep reading.’ Ian said.

 ‘It’s a spell. I’ve never seen incantations before. Or heard them. My father never said them aloud.’ I said, unease rising in my chest again. How was I ever supposed to do this?

‘Will you do it?’ Ian asked, obviously not sharing in my worry.

‘What, now? Right now?’ I asked in disbelief.

‘You need to start at some point, and you need to control it. If my memory serves, this spell gives you the barriers to control the magic within you, you will need time to practice releasing it.’ Ian said evenly.

‘I don’t want another accidental electric shock.’ Aidan piped up.

 He had a point. I didn’t know how dangerous I was, and I was feeling nervous about touching anything or anyone in case I hurt them inadvertently.

‘Exactly. Just relax Rosa, it will come naturally, the book it here to guide you.’ Ian said

‘Do I say it aloud?’ I asked, nervously touching the book, and hoping I didn’t set fire to it. Nothing happened, so I ran my palms along the wide pages, feeling the magic. It was calming, reaching out to me in a steadying way.

 Letting me know it was time.

‘In your head is fine. Feel for it. Magic is not something you study, it’s what you feel.’ Ian said, stepping back to give me space.

 I sucked in a deep breath and looked down at the incantation. It was not really what I imagined an incantation to look like. No talk of eyes of newts, or toes of frogs. It was short and simple.

_Bind to me,_

_And through my choice,_

_Released at will,_

_Return to me,_

_I’ll keep you still._

 I read it through purposefully in my head three times and each time I finished it I felt as though my skin was knitting up over something new. As though it was keeping something more than flesh and blood inside me. My hands tingled pleasantly. This felt different. Now I could control the flow I could feel it lurking, waiting for me to give a command. I laughed.

‘I can feel it! This is amazing.’ I said, my heart racing.

 I fell backwards and landed on the grass with a soft thud. It didn’t hurt; it wouldn’t let me get hurt. I sighed, looking at the blades of grass surrounding me. They were blowing backwards and forwards as I breathed. I sped up and slowed down my breaths and still the movements of the grass were following the pattern of my inhales and exhales. I frowned.

‘Rosa? Did anything happen?’ Ian said.

‘You know, Richard said I had a natural affinity with fire, does that extend to the other elements too?’ I said, still watching the grass.

‘Yes. Witches were very at one with the elements. It’s the most natural form of magic.’ Ian replied, ‘that’s why you had a certain measure of capability with it before today.’

‘Makes sense.’ I mumbled, closing my eyes.

‘Ian, this spell, does it create a magical barrier from outside sources, as well as being able to keep it locked in?’ Richard asked.

‘Yes, it does.’ He replied.

‘So, she can get some sleep now?’ Richard asked.

‘She can.’ Ian said.

 I didn’t know if anything was said after that as, like Ian’s words were a command, I tumbled into numbness as sleep overtook me.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> P.S Sorry for any mistakes, my eyes are tired.


End file.
